Book 

GopFfeta>l°^ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOaSB 



STUDIES 

IN THE 

BOOK 

OF 

REVELATION 




I 



BY 

D. M. STEARNS 



II 




"With The Lord" November 6th, 1920 



STUDIES 

IN THE 





BOOK OF 
REVELATION 



D;^M. STEARNS 



FIRST EDITION 
5000 



1921 
Published by 
FRED KELKER 
Harrisbure, Pa. 
U. S. A. 





This book is not sold, but will be sent free 
of charge, as we are led. Its circtdation is 
supported entirely by voluntary offerings. 



Copyright, 1921, 
by 

HARRISBURG. PA. 

0)CU60849V 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Foreword 4 

Study of Chapter 1:1-3 5 

Study of Chapter 1:4-8 

Study of Chapter i : 9-20 32 

Study of Chapters 2 and 3 4^ 

Study of Chapter 4 62 

Study of Chapter 5 75 

Study of Chapter 6 88 

Study of Chapter 7 • • • • • 102 

Study of Chapter 8 

Study of Chapter 9 

Study of Chapter 10 I45 

Study of Chapter 11 : 1-14 i^i 

Study of Chapter 11 : 15-19 ^74 

Study of Chapter 12 W 

Study of Chapter 13 206 

Study of Chapter 14 • 224 

Study of Chapters 15 and 16 239 

Study of Chapters 17 and 18 254 

Study of Chapter 19 270 

Study of Chapter 20 2^ 

Study of Chapter 21 303 

Study of Chapter 22 3^9 



FOREWORD 

These Studies in the Revelation of Jesus Christ were 
given at Odd Fellows' Hall, Philadelphia, Pa., on Sun- 
day afternoons, in January to May, 1896. They were 
stenographically reported, and typewritten, as a labor 
of love, by Miss Margaret Robinson, who has, at this 
time (October, 1920,) been many years in Heaven. 

I am glad to think of her as still working on earth 
as these studies go forth to magnify Him whom she 
has long seen face to face. 

Many questions handed in from time to time have 
been answered in these studies. We are listening daily 
for the sounding of His trum.pet, and till then, or till 
He calls us out of the body, our aim is to "Occupy till 
He Come.'' 

Ever, only, all for Him, 

D. M. Sti^arns. 
Germantown, Phila., Pa., Oct., 1^20. 



Chapter 1:1-3. 



"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave 
unto him, to show unto his servants things which must 
shortly come to pass ; and he sent and signified it by 
his angel unto his servant John : 

"Who bare record of the word of God, and of the 
testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 

"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the 
words of this prophecy, and keep those things which 
are written therein : for the time is at hand." 

Such is the introduction to the Book. I might give 
you right here one or two sayings that I have gathered 
from certain people that are eminent Bible students. 
Dr. Erdman says, 

"The fulfilment of all promise and prophecy. 
Flower, fruitage, and final consummation of all seeds 
and beginnings. Culmination of all tendencies and 
principles foreshadowed in the Law, the Prophets, the 
Psalms, the Gospels and the Epistles. The character 
and career and final judgment of the Woman, the Beast 
and the Devil. The final victory, triumph, and blessed- 
ness of the saints. The Redeemer is King, the King- 
dom of Righteousness and Glory is established." 

Dr. Mackay, the author of "Grace and Truth," says, 
"He comes as Prince of the kings of the earth; to 
reign and put down all rule ; to show how this world 
can be governed." 

Others have said, "The last written communication 
of the risen and ascended Jesus to His Church. The 



6 



STUDIES IN THE 



revealing and uncovering of Jesus Christ Himself in 
reference to His Church, His Israel, His enemies. A 
rehearsal and further unfolding of all Scripture con- 
cerning the Day of the Lord. Given of God— sent by 
Christ— signified by an Angel— recorded by John— sent 
to the Churches. And the whole Book bears witness 
to His person and work and kingdom." 

We might study the book taking up each verse fully. 
That would take a long time. We might give you an 
outline of the book looking somewhat fully at each 
chapter. That would not take so long, and we could 
accomplish that in twenty-two or twenty-four meetings. 
I feel led to take the outline plan, giving something of 
each chapter, thus getting a knowledge of the book, 
and then, another season, we might take it up more 
fully. 

We have gone so far in Genesis as to give us an idea 
of the threads that run through Scripture. You can 
read the whole Bible with what light we have had and 
read it with a good deal of intelligence, and follow the 
Cain and the Abel line all the way through until we 
come to the Book of Revelation. The centre of it all 
is the Lord Jesus Christ in His first coming, birth, 
death and resurrection. He is the centre of all Scrip- 
ture. All Scripture speaks of Him. Unless we see 
Him, we see nothing. If we see only Cain or Abel, 
Abraham, Isaac or Jacob, Paul or any other of the 
Apostles, we see nothing. If we see only geography, 
chronology or prophecy, we see nothing— nothing eter- 
nal, nothing really helpful. We must everywhere see 
Him, as we have seen Him in the first verse of Genesis. 

This Book of Revelation takes us on to the time of 
His coming again. It will be in a series of events. 
Just as His first coming covered thirty-three or thirty- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 7 



four years from His birth in Bethlehem to His death 
and resurrection, so His second coming will consist of 
a series of events, beginning with the catching up of 
the saints to meet Him in the air. 

Some of you have been studying about John the 
Baptist in the Sunday School lesson for to-day. In the 
last verse in the lesson it says John was ^'to make ready 
a people prepared for the Lord." He did make ready 
some people for the coming of the Lord, out of Israel. 
Our Lord came to Israel. John, Jesus, the Twelve 
and the Seventy were all commanded to preach only to 
Israel. The others, the healing of the Syro-Phoenician 
woman's daughter, and the centurion's son, were ex- 
ceptional. The rule was to Israel. Our Lord is com- 
ing back again to Israel preeminently, and before He 
comes back in His power and glory to Israel, a real 
John the Baptist, or the true Elijah will appear in the 
Holy City with another, as witnesses of the coming of 
the Lord. That will be in the time of the coming 
storm, which will be not only in Jerusalem, but will 
reach all around the world. Before the storm comes, 
we will be out of it, caught up. Our business is to 
make ready a people prepared for the Lord to meet 
Him on His way. 

I was looking over the record of my studies of past 
years, and I find in the past fifteen years I have pub- 
licly read this book thirteen times with different con- 
gregations, and I am sure I know very little about it 
yet. (Since these studies were given in 1896 I find 
that I have gone through the book again and again with 
my present congregation at least six times and never 
with more interest than last season, 1919-1920.) 
Every time I read it I enjoy it more, and expect now to 
enjoy it with you as I have never enjoyed it hitherto. 



8 



STUDIES IN THE 



Some of you perhaps are reading it at home. I do not 
often recommend books. But one of the best books I 
ever read on Revelation was written by the pastor of 
the church across the street, the Rev. Dr. Seiss. It can 
be secured at the Lutheran PubHshing House. I would 
also commend to you a book by Newberry, called 
''Notes on Revelation," the one who published the Bible 
I commended to you some time ago. It is so Scriptural, 
so clear; and also that of Dr. H. Bonar, now in glory,' 
published by Carter Bros., and Lincoln on Revelation 
is good. If you care to follow up these Revelation 
studies, you must get something to read. We are glad 
to commend to you helpful helps. Not all helps are 
helpful. These are, I am sure. We never were in 
times on the earth when the Book of Revelation needed 
to be studied as to-day, if possible to-day more than 
ever. 

We may not get beyond the introduction. We will 
get on just as fast as you pray. If you say, 'Xord, 
don't let him say what he does not need to say, and may 
the Spirit speak and not he,'' we will get along faster, 
otherwise I may lose myself and talk nonsense. We 
are all apt to talk that which is not profitable. 

The name of this book is called the Revelation of 
Jesus Christ. In some Bibles it is called the Revela- 
tion of St. John the Divine. There is no need to read 
it that way. I have ruled that title out in my Bible. 
That is not the proper title of the Book. As to saints, 
you are as much saints as John, Matthew and Paul. 
We do speak of our sainted friends gone to glory. We 
had better know the saints around us. Shall we know 
each other in Heaven? Oh, yes. But we had better 
know each other here. That is more profitable. God 
has called us all saints. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 9 



Let us recognize, then, the title, The Revelation of 
Jesus Christ,— the revelation, the unveiling, the uncov- 
ering, the revealing of Jesus Christ. A revelation is 
not a mystery. You have seen people holding a secret. 
You have seen some men with a secret, and some 
other man wants to find out the secret and he can't 
seem to get it, until he finds some one who is in the 
circle who will tell him. When they have made it 
known it is a secret no longer. Now they have told it, it 
is no longer a mystery, it is a revelation. Some people 
say I cannot understand this book. It is a great mys- 
tery. That is not the name of it. It is not the Mystery 
of Jesus Christ ; it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 
Now about that secret we referred to, would you say 
when the secret is all told, that is a great mystery? 
What, is it a mystery to you yet? That is a great 
mystery. Then you haven't heard the secret? Oh yes, 
I heard it, but it is a great mystery. How can it be a 
mystery if you have heard it? It is plain enough. So 
people insist upon saying this book is a mystery. It is 
a mistake. It is not a mystery. It is a revelation, an 
unfolding, an unveiling, an uncovering, it is a revela- 
tion of Jesus Christ. And as we said He is the one 
of whom the whole Bible is full. 

We might delay upon each of these words, and give 
you for instance all the passages where the word "reve- 
lation" is used. That might weary you. I only suggest 
for your own study, take your Concordance and take 
up the word "revelation." The Greek word is not al- 
ways translated revelation. If time permitted this 
would be the way to take it up. Just take one place, 
ist Corinthians i : 7. Paul in writing to the Greek 
church said, "So that ye come behind in no gift ; wait- 
ing for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Margin, 



lo STUDIES IN THE 

"revelation" instead of ^'coming/' "the coming or reve- 
lation of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

The attitude of the early Christians was a constant 
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let 
us understand, — not waiting for His coming in glory, 
not watching for that, because He cannot come in glory 
until He has us with Him. We are not waiting for His 
coming in glory. We are sure He will come in glory ; 
but we are waiting day by day, moment by moment, I 
trust, waiting for His coming to the air on His way to 
the earth for the overthrow of His enemies, which can- 
not take place until certain events have happened ; but 
I do not know of anything that must necessarily hap- 
pen before we are caught up to meet Him in the air, 
except what He sees is necessary to complete the 
church. 

When you meet the name Jesus Christ, when the 
Spirit says the Lord Jesus Christ, He never means 
Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit never says words care- 
lessly, never out of the way, never without a reason. 
There is a reason why every word that is used in Scrip- 
ture should be used. Jesus is the man that once walked 
here on the earth in humiliation, God manifest in the 
flesh, Son of Mary. Jesus is suggestive of His hu- 
miliation, Christ at once suggests (among other things) 
His resurrection. Even as we are told in the Acts of 
the Apostles, "God hath made that same Jesus, whom 
ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." How did 
He make Him Lord and Christ ? By raising Him from 
the dead. One suggests the exalted one, the risen one. 
That is not by any means all the word suggests, but we 
can follow on and look for more. Jesus suggests at 
least this, His humiliation— Christ, His exaltation. 
Here is the humiliated one now exalted, Jesus Christ. 



BOOK OF REVELATION ii 



If it was Christ Jesus, it would be the exalted one who 
once was humiliated. The manifestation of Jesus 
Christ my Saviour, the Anointed One, the Great Head 
of the Church. 

Here is a verse that will suggest the meaning to us, 
Romans 8 : ii, "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up 
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up 
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Isn't it all 
the same "raised up Jesus," or "raised up Christ"? At 
first sight it looks all the same. You and I are not 
members of the body of Jesus. We are members of 
the body of Christ. Jesus is the man, the son of Mary ; 
He died. He rose again. Jesus as head of the church 
is Christ. There is more than that to it, but I give you 
this much in the hope that you may be led to look into 
things. You have a book here, the breadths and lengths 
and depths and heights no one has ever sounded. 

Do you think there will be Bible schools in Heaven ? 
How would it be to have Elijah, Paul or some of these 
men tell us the wonderful things in this Book? 
Wouldn't it be glorious ! But what if our Lord Him- 
self should talk to us, as He opened the Scriptures 
when He walked with those two disciples on the way to 
Emmaus? Don't think you are going to cease your 
Bible study when you get to Heaven, but on and on 
through eternity there will be an unfolding. What 
other knowledge you may carry of other books into 
eternity, I do not know ; but the Scriptures, you will 
carry all that into glory. It will be a great pity to go 
there knowing so little about the Bible, won't it ? Let 
other books go and give all your time to the study of 
the word, then we will be glad God led us along to the 
year 1896. 



12 



STUDIES IN THE 



"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave 
unto him." God gave this to Christ. Many a time I 
am amazed at the fact and read it over and over and 
over to be sure that it is there, the fact that when the 
Lord Jesus Christ was on the earth He never spake a 
word of Himself. Thus in John 12:49 He says, "For 
I have not spoken of myself ; but the Father which 
sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should 
say, and what I should speak." Some of us wretched 
creatures want to be original, try to say something 
original, to have others say "A man with mighty brains 
said it." They want to write something original, things 
to make people think how clever they are. Our Lord 
Jesus Christ only said what God the Father told Him. 
Moses did not think out his great sayings. Jeremiah 
did not think out his great sayings. God said to Moses, 
"I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou 
shalt say." To Jeremiah, it was, "whatsoever I com- 
mand thee, thou shalt speak." And Christ said, "The 
Father gave me commandment what I shall speak." 
And in John 14: 10, Christ said, "The words that I 
speak unto you I speak not of myself : but the Father 
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." 

When we get to be simple enough to read and believe 
the word of God, and just pass on what He gives us, 
we will be more like our Master. In His prayer in 
John 17, Christ says, "The glory which thou gavest me 
I have given them." Paul says, "I have given unto you 
that which I also have received." Oh that we would 
be only willing to receive, and pass on to people. I am 
astonished at the increased interest in these Bible 
studies, in all these Bible classes. In Brooklyn to- 
morrow morning at half past ten, Monday morning, I 
meet about three hundred people who come just to re- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 13 



ceive something from the Book, — after a full Sunday. 
How is that ? What is it all ? Just passing on what is 
here in the Book, taking God to mean just what He 
says, and everywhere there is a hunger to know more 
about this blessed Book. If you receive anything, pass 
it on, or you will never improve, you will never grow. 
You must pass it on, just as Christ did. 

"To shew unto his servants," not to keep unto Him- 
self, but to show unto His servants, His bond-servants. 
His blood-bought servants. Are you bond-servants of 
Jesus Christ? Are you bond-slaves of Christ? Like 
the old slave when he was told he had his freedom, he 
said, "No, I will not go. I love my master." Do you 
just say concerning Christ, "I love my Master?" 

"Which God gave unto him, to shew unto his serv- 
ants things which must shortly come to pass ; and he 
sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John." 
"He sent and signified it." God gave it to Christ, and 
Christ sent and signified it, or "sign-ified it," made it 
known by symbols and signs. In Genesis God taught 
Adam and Eve by symbols, by object lessons, in the 
coats of skins, the flaming sword and the Cherubim. 
And God ends the whole story by symbols and signs, 
only they are all explained. There is no difficulty about 
them, "signified it by his angel unto his servant John." 
And yet people turn away from this book, and say I 
am not interested in it, I do not care for Revelation. 

Imagine two friends going from this meeting this 
afternoon, and they come to the home of one, and she 
should say, "Come in a moment, I want to show you a 
present I received. I want you just to look at it a mo- 
ment," and the other should reply, "I don't care about 
it, I will hurry on." They might not be so intimate 
to-morrow. 



14 



STUDIES IN THE 



And here our Lord Jesus Christ says to us, so lov- 
ingly, so entreatingly, *'I want to show you something 
God has given to me.'' And you say, "The Gospels 
are enough for me." Do you think we are really 
friends of Christ to talk that way? Let us be really 
friends, and say, "If I passed this book by, I will pass 
it by no more." 

"Unto his servant John." Rev. 19 : 10, "P or the tes- 
timony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Do you 
know the Prophets ? Do you know the Bible through 
from Genesis on to this book? Otherwise you cannot 
understand many of the things that are here. Are you 
acquainted with Haggai? Are you acquainted with 
Joel? Will you take them by the hand, when you see 
them in Heaven, and give them thanks for something 
they have told you? When I meet Joel, I think I shall 
say, "Joel, there was a day in my life on the earth 
when it was as black as midnight. I could not see a 
step. I was in great trouble. And I went to the Book 
to get some comfort and I opened right to your proph- 
ecy, and the first words I read, all I could see, was this, 
'Fear not, be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do 
great things. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satis- 
fied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that 
hath dealt wondrously with you : and my people shall 
never be ashamed.' " Joel 2 : 21 and 26. 

Of all the little Prophets, Haggai has done me the 
most good. I think I shall say to Haggai, "Haggai, 
you cured me— God through you cured me of looking 
to people, of wanting to say some mighty thing, cured 
me of a good many troubles that were hindering me." 

These prophets are living men to-day. They are 
living to-day. They are in glory. If you die to-night 
you may see them before morning. "The testimony of 



BOOK OF REVELATION 15 



Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." We will find opening 
up here as we go on all the Prophets. 

"Blessed is he that lets this book alone, for if he has 
any brains when he begins he will lose them all before 
he gets through." Did you ever hear that? I have 
heard that. At the Conservatory of Music in Boston I 
was giving a reading on this Book, and one of the 
audience, a young lady came up and said, '*You don't 
know how I feel. I am in trouble." What's the mat- 
ter? She said, ''You have been reading Revelation. 
Well, before I left home my pastor told us we must 
not read Revelation. I came in here with some friends 
and did not know what the topic was." And the poor 
child was excited, thought she had done something 
wrong. I asked her if she would please read this 
verse, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear 
the words of this prophecy." He wrote that. That 
must be the Spirit of God. You need not be afraid of 
all the pastors on earth. We cannot honor men that 
do not honor God. I got into trouble in at least one 
church, because I did not respect the clergy. "Touch 
not my anointed." And there are people that think 
that means never say a word against the preacher. 
Look up the Bible and you will find the words applied 
to Israel, not to Moses and Aaron. It is a serious thing 
to say a word against a child of God, for "he that 
toucheth a child of God toucheth the apple of God's 
eye." I am not speaking of that. I am speaking of 
error, and that we cannot respect a man when he 
preaches against the word of God. We need not bow 
down to them. We must bow only to God and the 
Lord Jesus Christ. People who do not respect God are 
not worthy of our respect. ''Blessed is he that read- 
eth." 



i6 



STUDIES IN THE 



One of the best Bible students, looked up to by all, 
one of the best Bible students I know, told me himself 
that he had preached for years always avoiding Reve- 
lation, until some one called his attention to this verse, 
and he has never avoided it since. He actually had 
gone on for years, I suppose because some one had 
him he might lose his mind if he went into it. 

I was sitting beside a friend in the train, and I had 
just read the Book of Revelation through in the seat 
beside him. The idea occurred to me, and I said, "Di 
you ever read Revelation?" He said, ''No, we have 
family worship at home, we read verse about, but when 
we come to Revelation we always turn back to the be- 
ginning again.'' I handed him over this book. ''Read 
that third verse. How could you always turn away 
from the book?'' He seemed ashamed and said, "I 
never saw that before." "How could you when you 
always turned away from the book?" 

This is the only book in all the sixty-six that has a 
special promise pronounced upon the reader and hearer, 
because all are not able to read. "Blessed is he that 
readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy." 
When we meet those who cannot read, we should say, 
"Sit down a moment, I want to read you something to 
get a blessing," and read the words of this prophecy. 
"And keep those things which are written therein." 
If that one sentence does not make you want to read 
this book, you must be somewhat of an unbeliever. 
Then we are to keep. You cannot keep what you have 
not got. 

In the other Bible classes they have learned the first 
five chapters of this book. We have skipped to the 
19th, and we propose to learn the last four chapters. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 17 



If you have the word in your heart then you can keep 
it, and ponder it for light upon it. 

''Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the 
words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are 
written therein : for the time is at hand/' There are 
vi^t^ seven ''blesseds'^ in Revelation. We will take a 
peep at these seven ''blesseds." I am sure you will 
find a blessing in so doing. The Lord help us to think 
of these first three verses. 

Prayer : 

Our Father in Heaven we do thank Thee that 
through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, through 
His life and death and resurrection, through His fin- 
ished work, all who accept Him, are accepted in Him 
and justified and sanctified and made meet for the in- 
heritance of the Saints in light. How little some of us 
know of Thy purposes. We have neglected this book. 
If we have not been reading it, forgive us, O God, and 
help us from this day to begin to read and lay up in our 
hearts the words of the blessed prophecy of this book. 
"Come and I will show you the glorious things that are 
written in this book." Hast Thou tried to show us 
what is coming to pass, and we have turned aside and 
said, "No, I don't care to read it" ? Oh forgive us, Fa- 
ther. May Thy word take hold of us now. "Blessed 
is he that readeth and keepeth those things that are 
written therein." May the word of God and the testi- 
mony of Jesus Christ be more to us than any other 
book, or than the daily newspaper. May we be men 
and women wholly given up to one book, even reading 
it on the cars, thinking about it on the street, meditat- 
ing upon it everywhere, the one book and wholly given 
up to one Man, vessels meet for the Master's use. We 
ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 



Chapter 1:4-8. 



"John to the seven churches which are in Asia: 
Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and 
which was, and which is to come ; and from the seven 
Spirits which are before his throne ; 

"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, 
and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of 
the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his own blood. 

"And hath made us kings and priests unto God and 
his father; to him be glory and dominion for ever 
and ever. Amen. 

"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye 
shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and 
all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. 
Even so. Amen. 

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end- 
ing, saith the Lord, which is and which was, and which 
is to come, the Almighty.^' 

I think that will be as much as we can undertake to- 
day. Once we have journeyed through the first chap- 
ter, we will be more brief on the next two ; then when 
we come to the fourth chapter, we get into a hard por- 
tion of the book, but if we go on with prayer and pa- 
tience, I trust we will be sure to obtain something from 
each study. I trust we shall never forget the introduc- 
tion, — that it is a revelation of Jesus Christ, that God 
gave it unto Him to show unto His servants, and He 
sent and signified it by an angel unto His servant John, 

i8 



BOOK OF REVELATION 19 



that John bare record of the word of God and the tes- 
timony of Jesus Christ, and God pronounces a blessing 
upon all who read and all who hear the words of this 
prophecy, for the time is at hand. 

And now we listen to the messenger deliver his mes- 
sage. 

"To the seven churches which are in Asia.'' 
When we receive from God a message, it is our busi- 
ness to deliver it. When God puts us in trust with the 
gospel, it is our business to pass it on. And when a 
church is not blessed as a church ought to be, we can 
easily see why, — because it is largely disobedient to the 
command to preach the Gospel to every creature. The 
church is put in trust with the Gospel to make it known 
unto all the world, and where there is a church so 
called or an individual that is not specially interested 
to make the Gospel known to every creature, that 
church or that individual is disobedient to the trust 
committed to her or to him. There cannot be the bless- 
ing there there ought to be when there is manifest and 
continued disobedience. Where the church is occupied 
with its own affairs, to make ends meet, to pay their 
pastor, and build up their little corner all its own, that 
church will not be blessed as it ought to be. The busi- 
ness it is placed on earth for is to pass on to the w^orld 
the good things given unto us, and when the church 
will wake up to the responsibility laid on it, then we 
will see quickly the time of the coming kingdom. 

John having received his message begins to pass it 
on. May we be ever doing likewise, ever be telling of 
this salvation from day to day. 



20 



STUDIES IN THE 



*^John to the seven churches which are in Asia." 

Why God should select seven churches in the prov- 
ince of Asia, I cannot see. I have never read any rea- 
son, never seen any reason, — in the extreme western 
portion of what is now Asia Minor, or what was then 
known as the province of Asia. If you will take the 
map, and it will be worth your while, and look at the 
Province of Asia, you will see the seven places in a 
kind of a circle ; first Ephesus, and then a little north 
Smyrna, and a little further north Pergamos, a little 
west Thyatira, and then Sardis, and then Philadelphia, 
and then Laodicea, coming back almost to where you 
started, in the extreme west of Asia Minor. Laodicea 
is not far from Colosse. Why didn't the circle include 
Colosse? Just this remark in connection with the 
church at Colosse. In Col. 4 : 16, you will see that Paul 
said : when you have read the epistle let Laodicea read 
it also, and you read the epistle I wrote to them. So 
that the churches at Laodicea and at Colosse were very 
near together. Why then was not Corinth included in 
this circle, Why was not the church in Thessalonica, the 
church at Rome and the church at Antioch included? 
We do not know. Only this seems very plain that the 
Holy Spirit made a selection of these seven, and these 
seven represent all churches of all time to come. What 
is seen in these seven churches is seen in a greater or 
lesser degree in churches to-day, and will be seen until 
Christ shall come again. So there are lessons in the 
Epistles which ought to come home to our hearts, and 
will if we are willing to have the Spirit speak to us. 

"John to the seven churches which are in Asia." 
These seven representing all churches. This is the 
first time we meet seven in this book, and we have it in 



BOOK OF REVELATION 21 



eighteen different relations in this very first chapter. 
You have presently the seven Spirits of God, and then 
you have seven stars, and seven candlesticks, you have 
seven in at least eighteen different relations. Here is 
the first seven ; and seven is that number which suggests 
completeness. We have found that out in our Genesis 
studies, in the first four chapters of that book, and that 
number runs all through the Scriptures suggestive of 
completeness. These seven churches suggest the com- 
plete church. Is it necessary for me to say, that there 
is really only one church, that all the churches so called 
form part of the one church of the living God, the body 
of Christ, of which Christ is the head? So that it mat- 
ters very, very little whether you belong to this or that 
church so called. The great question is : Do you belong 
to the Church of Christ? Are you redeemed by His 
precious blood? A member of the Church of Christ is 
a member fon all eternity; and when He takes His 
body to Himself, we shall meet Him on His way to the 
earth. 

"Grace be unto you." "Grace" what a word it is ! 
"Grace be unto you." Do you understand it, friends? 
Has it made you glad? Let me give you a little test 
question. Do you sometimes get looking at yourself ? 
Then you do not understand grace. Do you sometimes 
look at yourself and say, "I do not dare to say I am 
saved just now, I do not think I could say I have eter- 
nal life just now. I have not been acting very well." 
Then you do not understand the meaning of grace. 
Grace is salvation for the undeserving, the forgive- 
ness of sin, life eternal, a name written in heaven for 
people who do not deserve it. We never can deserve 
it. It is the gift of God through Jesus Christ,— not of 
works. Works do not come in on the line of our sal- 



22 



STUDIES IN THE 



vation. Works come in after we are saved, — not until 
then. We are dead until we are saved, and dead peo- 
ple cannot work : but dead people can by the grace of 
God receive the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
thank the Lord. Ephesians 2 : 8 — ''For by grace are ye 
saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves : It is 
the gift of God." Romans 5 : 2— ''By whom also we 
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, 
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.'' 2 Peter 3 : 
18 — "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." i Peter i : 2 — "Elect 
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, 
through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ : Grace unto 
you, and peace, be multiplied." 

From beginning to end, it is all grace. So John be- 
gins the story, "Grace be unto you and peace." Being 
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. We do not think we have, but we 
have peace with God. Of all the sweet words in Scrip- 
ture, I think the sweetest are, "He is my peace." 
Ephesians 2 : 14. The sentence reads, "He is our 
peace." You are at liberty to make it singular and 
apply it to your own soul and say, "He is my peace." 

That man was right who, his father having died, 
and the minister having asked him, "Had your father 
made his peace with God ?" answered, "No, sir." The 
minister said, "I am sorry." The young man replied, 
"Father is all right, sir." "How can he be all right if 
he did not make his peace with God?" the minister 
asked. "He did not need to, sir. The Lord Jesus 
Christ made peace with God for him, and father ac- 
cepted it a long time ago." 

The young man was right. To speak most Scrip- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 23 



turally we cannot make our peace with God. It is a 
way we have of putting things. Let us be as Scriptural 
as we can. We read that Jesus made peace with God, 
and we accept it and confess our sins, and He becomes 
our peace. Isaiah 32: 17, ''The work of righteousness 
shall be peace ; and the effect of righteousness quiet- 
ness and assurance for ever." What righteousness is 
that? Christ Himself ,— that which He has wrought 
out, for He becomes unto us righteousness. Romans 
10: 4, ''For Christ is the end of the law for righteous- 
ness to every one that believeth." 2 Corinthians 5 : 21, 
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no 
sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God 
in him.'' And He who is our righteousness is our 
peace. 

"Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, 
and which was, and which is to come." Here these 
terms are applied to the Father. In the eighth verse 
they are applied to the Son. The Father and the Son 
are one. God always is. He that cometh to God must 
beHeve that He is. From Him which is and was, and 
He always was the very same God as He is to-day, 
"and which is to come" ; for when Christ comes, it will 
be God in Christ, as when He came the first time. This 
gives a little light on the meaning of the word "Je- 
hovah." That one significance of the word "Jehovah" 
is the one who is and was and is to come. "And from 
the seven Spirits which are before His throne." Seven 
indicates at least this, the fulness, the completeness of 
the Spirit. If you will read the first verse of the nth 
of Isaiah you will see there about the Spirit and Christ. 
I think you will find just seven points in Isaiah 11:2, 
seven things concerning the Spirit and Christ, a spirit 
of God, of wisdom and might and so on, indicating the 



24 



STUDIES IN THE 



completeness, the fulness of the Holy Spirit, the seven 
Spirits, — the Holy Spirit before God's throne. You 
know our Lord Jesus Christ said that if any one would 
beHeve on Him, out of his belly would flow rivers of 
water, out of his innermost being. This is spoken of 
the Spirit. The Spirit is compared to water. Water 
is the symbol of the Spirit, and in Ezekiel 47 you read 
of a river flowing from the throne of God. You read 
of a river to the ankles, and then to the knees, and 
then to swim in. The Spirit writes for us this book 
and opens to us this book, and when we revel in this 
book, we find it the river of water flowing from the 
throne of God, and it is never dry, the water is never 
low, but always full. What a river it is ! "And from 
the seven Spirits which are before His throne.'' What 
we need is to be under the control of the Spirit, to be 
filled with the Spirit. If you should ask me what you 
should ask God to give me, I should say, "Do ask God 
for Christ's sake to give me a life controlled by God's 
Holy Spirit." There is nothing under the sun to be 
compared with that. If you should ask me what I 
would wish to pray for for you, I should say that you 
be Spirit-filled and Spirit-controlled men and women, 
nothing but men and women completely controlled by 
God's Holy Spirit, and then who can tell what God 
might accomplish through us. May God give us a 
mighty hunger and insatiable thirst to be filled with His 
Spirit ! If that is our prayer, and we wish it not for any 
benefit to ourselves, but for His glory and for His serv- 
ice, then we will become Spirit-filled men and women. 

"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, 
and the first begotten of the dead." Here you have 
the Father and the Spirit and the Son. "And from 
Jesus Christ"— Jesus the humiliated one now exalted ; 



BOOK OF REVELATION 25 

Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. A witness is 
one who is willing to be a martyr. The Lord Jesus 
Christ laid down His life, and He tells us we must not 
be afraid to lay down our lives. There is a dying that 
we may be doing daily. 2 Cor. 4:11, *'For we which 
live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake,that 
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our 
mortal flesh." That is a daily dying to self, that Christ 
may live in us, — but while we are to do that contin- 
ually (Rev. 2 : 10), we must be willing to lay down our 
lives for His sake. "Fear none of those things which 
thou shalt suffer : behold, the devil shall cast some of 
you into prison, that ye may be tried ; and ye shall have 
tribulation ten days : be thou faithful unto death, and 
I will give thee a crown of life.'' A crown of Hf e is 
not eternal life. Eternal life is God's gift to those who 
accept Christ, but a crown of life is given to those who 
endure patiently even unto death. 

''The first begotten of the dead." i Corinthians, fif- 
teenth chapter. The first bom from the dead. 

While we do not say that Christ was the first one 
that rose from the dead, we do say Christ is the one by 
virtue of whose resurrection, those who ever will rise 
and all who ever rose from the dead, do so by the vir- 
tue of the resurrection of Christ. If Christ be not 
risen, I am a fool this afternoon. If Christ be not risen 
there is nobody here saved yet. We are all in our sins. 
I Cor. 15. But Christ is risen, and because "Christ is 
risen from the dead, then those who are in Christ are 
saved and shall in due time be with Him in His glory. 
You cannot separate those three things, — ^the life of 
Christ, the death of Christ, and the resurrection of 
Christ. They are inseparable. He must have lived 
that spotless life, and if He never took it again, there 



26 



STUDIES IN THE 



is no salvation. The resurrection is the crowning thing 
that makes Christ our salvation. Read i Cor. 15 and 
see for yourselves. *'The first begotten of the dead, 
and the Prince of the kings of the earth." Not yet, but 
He will be King of kings and Lord of lords. All kings 
shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him. 
Psalm 72: II. The time is coming when He shall be 
manifest and ruler of all kings on the face of the earth, 
and you and I shall be ruling with Him. 

One of the most beautiful things in the Bible is 
where John, as he thinks of Jesus Christ on whose 
bosom he used to lean, breaks forth in this ascription, 
''Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins 
in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
unto God and His Father ; to Him be glory and do- 
minion for ever and ever." Can you say that also from 
the heart ? I do not know any much better words you 
can live upon day by day to rectify your life than this 
ascription, ''Unto him." Let your work be ever so 
trying in your office to-morrow, or in the workshop, or 
in the home ; let there be trials almost unendurable ; if 
your heart says, "Unto Him, He loveth me," it will 
make it all right. He will give you grace not to talk 
back; but be perpetually singing, "Unto Him, unto 
Him." It would be well, as some one said, to have it 
printed very large and beautiful and put it up as a 
motto in all our homes, "Unto Him." You could not 
put that over a counter of novels, or over a saloon door, 
or a pipe of tobacco, or in a ballroom, or at the door of 
a theatre. It would rectify a great many things. What 
we do unto Him, is well done. What we do not do 
unto Him is time wasted. This very moment He loves 
us. It is the present tense, this very moment He loves 
us, "Unto Him who loveth me and washed me from my 



BOOK OF REVELATION 27 



sins." ''Why, John are your sins forgiven?'' ''Yes, 
they are washed away, all of them, clean every whit/' 
Isaiah 43: 25, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy 
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remem- 
ber thy sins." If you believe on Him and he should 
call you out of this world the next moment, you will be 
ready to meet Him. "In His own blood." There is no 
other way. Money cannot buy the forgiveness of sins. 
Not all the money in Philadelphia could buy the for- 
giveness of a single sin. Do tell your friends, if they 
have any such thought, that money can't do it. "No 
man can by his wealth redeem his brother." There is 
only one ransom, the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of 
the Lamb. It is the story all through the Bible from 
the Genesis story to* the end. "In his own blood.' 
"And hath made us kings and priests unto God." 

I am looking upon the faces of some, — I do not know 
how many, God knows, — who sit here this afternoon, 
who are at this very moment kings and priests unto 
God. There is no priesthood but the priesthood of all 
beHevers, and I am no more a priest than you are. 
You are a king unto God. "Hath made us kings and 
priests unto God." Do lift up your heart and say, "Fa- 
ther, I thank Thee that by the precious blood of Christ, 
I am made a king and priest unto Thee." You will be 
with Christ on His throne. He is the great King, 
Priest and Prophet. We, by virtue of being united 
with Him, become priests and kings and prophets, His 
mouthpieces to pass it on, and that is the priest's office. 
Abraham predicted nothing. A prophet is simply one 
who receives Christ's message to pass it on. You can 
be priests while you minister to others, but you are get- 
ting ready now to be kings, and that is the reason why 
some of us have to suffer. Every trial is necessary to 



28 



STUDIES IN THE 



qualify you for your priesthood. By suffering Jesus 
Christ became our high-priest. Look back over your 
lives. You can sympathize with others because you 
have been in the very place where they are now. How 
many souls have been able to pass on comfort because 
they have travelled that road, perhaps laid away the 
bodies of little ones. I can give comfort there that 
God gave me. That is the beginning of our priesthood. 
As to kings, you will have to wait for that. We will be 
kings with Christ on His throne. Let your souls sing, 
''Unto Him be glory," not "unto the church be glory." 
Let us never glorify man. ''To Him be glory and do- 
minion for ever and ever." 

"Behold he cometh." Here's the keynote to this 
whole book, — three times in the last chapter of the 
Bible you find it, — Behold He cometh. And God says 
in the prophecy of Ezekiel 21 : 27, "I will overturn, 
overturn, overturn till He come." 

"Behold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall 
see him." Now if you understand the story of His 
coming, you will not be puzzled by this verse. This is 
not the verse that we are specially interested in just 
now. This is not the first step in His coming. This is 
the public coming to the earth in the sight of all na- 
tions. The Church will be caught up to meet Him in 
the air. When He comes as here described, we will be 
with Him. Some of these days as the earth goes on 
her way, there will be a wonderful sight in the heavens. 
Every eye will be looking up to see what that thing, 
that wonderful thing is. What is that ! It stands right 
there until the earth will make one revolution. Every 
eye shall see it. We will be with Him there. And 
then when He has tarried long enough for every eye to 
see Him, then He will come on down to Olivet, and 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



29 



they shall see Him who pierced Him. "Every one 
shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him." His 
people Israel shall witness His coming back to Olivet, 
the tribe of Juda in particular, the Jews particularly. 
The ten tribes had no hand in His crucifixion, but the 
Jews did it, and they will see it. How they will be 
convinced of sin ! What a mourning there will be in 
Palestine. The earth never saw the like of it, — when 
He appears to His people Israel in their own land. 
They will be gathered back there in unbeHef , and He 
will come at their extremity, when the nations in war 
with them will have almost gained the victory. At the 
last moment Christ will come. Zech. 14. They will be 
convinced of their sin and they will receive Him as 
their own Messiah, and this is what they will say, 
Isaiah 25 : 9, 'Xo, this is our God ; we have waited for 
Him, and He will save us ; this is the Lord : we have 
waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His 
salvation." Then they will sing Isaiah 12. It will be 
their national anthem. If you want to read the story 
of their conversion, read Zechariah, chapters 12, 13 
and 14. 

"And they also which pierced him : and all kindreds 
of the earth shall wail because of him." Some tell us 
the Lord will come by and by when the world is con- 
verted. If the world is to be converted before Christ 
comes, who will do this wailing business. Do you at 
once set up a wail and stamp around a little when a 
friend comes to see you, and wish they had not come 
and then go to the door and say, "Glad to see you, come 
again soon"? They do that in some places. If we are 
glad to see our friends, we do not wail. This is one of 
the clearest proofs that Christ will come before the 
Millennium. We are to preach the gospel in all the 



30 



STUDIES IN THE 



world that Christ's body may be gathered out ; but the 
world will be as mad as can be (Rev. ii : 15) when He 
comes in His power. There will be the greatest rage 
on the part of the nations. *'Even so." Let them. 
They would not accept Thee. 

Just a word about this last verse. Alpha and Omega, 
He is the A and the Z. 

If you have all the letters of the alphabet, you can 
spell any word. There is not a good thing that cannot 
be spelled in Christ. He is the beginning and the end- 
ing. You see we are back in Genesis again. *'In the 
beginning God created the heavens and the earth." If 
Christ has made a beginning in you, He will make an 
ending. Be sure Christ will finish what He has begun. 
He is the Almighty. I want to leave this word with 
you. One of the greatest names of God I ever saw, — 
I think this name has wrought more wonders in my 
life than any other name, — is ''Almighty." This is the 
first time^ in Revelation. It occurs only once in the 
New Testament outside of Revelation. It occurs prin- 
cipally in the Old Testament, particularly in Job, thirty- 
one times. It is first found in Genesis 17, after that 
long stretch of thirteen years dropped out of Abra- 
ham's life on account of Hagar. At the end of the 
sixteenth chapter of Genesis Abraham was 86, and in 
the beginning of the seventeenth chapter he is 99; 
thirteen years dropped out. After all this God comes 
to Abraham, and says, ''I am El Shaddai,"— the one 
that is very near, the one who is what a mother is to 
her babe. What is the mother to her babe ? Life, pro- 
tection, guardian, everything. What is God to us as 
El Shaddai ? He is our all-sufficient one. El Shaddai, 
God Almighty, the mighty one who is all-sufficient. 
When we learn the all-sufficiency of God, we will never 



BOOK OF REVELATION 31 



look to the right or to the left for any help in God's 
work. We will wait only upon God, and let Him man- 
age everybody. We will have perfect peace for all the 
rest of our lives. That is the meaning of Almighty. 
Enough to dispel every fear and every torment from 
your life and give you peace for ever more. The 
mighty one— He is all-sufficient. ''Walk before me, 
and be thou upright, be sincere, and no good thing will 
I withhold from thee." We are to walk uprightly. 



Chapter 1 : 9-20. 



John, who also am your brother, and companion 
in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus 
Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the 
word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

''I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard be- 
hind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 

"Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the 
last : and. What thou seest, write in a book, and send 
it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto 
Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and 
unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, 
and unto Laodicea. 

"And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. 
And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks ; 

"And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like 
unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to 
the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 

"His head and his hairs were white like wool, as 
white as snow ; and his eyes were as a flame of fire ; 

"And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned 
in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many 
waters. 

"And he had in his right hand seven stars : and out 
of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword : and his 
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 

"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. 
And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me. 
Fear not ; I am the first and the last : 

"I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and, behold, I 

32 



BOOK OF REVELATION 33 



am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of 
hell and death. 

"Write the things which thou hast seen, and the 
things which are, and the things which shall be here- 
after; 

"The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest 
in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. 
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches : 
and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the 
seven churches." 

I am asked to explain what I said of the difference 
between Christ and Jesus in the verse in the eighth 
of Romans, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up 
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up 
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." 

What I tried to say was something like this : That 
the name of Jesus is specially significant of His hu- 
miliation, God manifest in the flesh, as a lowly man. 
Jesus is significant of humiliation ; Jesus of Nazareth, 
intensified humiliation, for Nazareth was a place with 
no reputation. Christ is associated with His resurrec- 
tion ; made both Lord and Christ by resurrection. So 
I simply said or tried to say that Jesus is suggestive of 
His humiHation, Christ of His exaltation. "If the 
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead," that 
is, the man as a man, son of Mary, "He that raised up 
Christ," includes the head and the body. The church 
of Christ is a name that includes both Himself as the 
Head of the church and every member of His body. 
In one place in Corinthians we are called Christ. We 
are associated in resurrection with Christ, or with Jesus 
as Christ, rather than with Jesus as Jesus. I know that 
3 



34 



STUDIES IN THE 



is not very clear to some, but I ask you to pray about it 
for more light. 

I think you will enjoy this meditation more if you 
have your Bibles open than if you simply sit and listen 
to me. 

One word about the name in the eighth verse, '*A1- 
mighty.'' Perhaps I did not make it clear. It was just 
one or two hurried remarks at the close of the service 
last week. The name Almighty is found about forty- 
eight times in the Old Testament. It is found nine 
times in the New Testament; it is found eight times 
in the Book of Revelation and only once in the whole 
New Testament outside of Revelation, — 2 Cor. 6: 18, 
**And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my 
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." It is 
found for the first time in Gen. 17: i. It is found 
thirty-one times in the Book of Job. So that in the 
Book of Job, you find the name Almighty more times 
than in all the rest of the Bible put together. And 
why ? I think the Book of Job tells us as no other book 
in the Bible, how we may learn the meaning of El 
Shaddai, God Almighty, the mighty one who is all- 
sufficient : the sufficiency of love that pours itself out 
on behalf of those who depend upon Him. In the 
Book of Job we see a man, a tried servant of God, but 
a man who thought a great deal of himself, who was 
blessed and was prospered. He had flocks and herds 
many, and a large family and many friends, — every 
temporal blessing. Practically he was a servant of God 
and greatly prospered. But he was not as prospered 
as he might have been, because there was too much of 
Job about him. In the twenty-ninth chapter you find 
his character, as well as in any other. He talks like 
this, "I was eyes to the blind, I was feet to the lame, I 



BOOK OF REVELATION 35 



clothed the naked, I fed the hungry, if anyone wanted 
an opinion I gave mine and that settled the thing, no 
one spoke after I had said my word." The pronoun I, 
or me, or my is about forty times used in that chapter 
concerning Job. So long as this 'T' business stands to 
the front we cannot understand the meaning of Al- 
mighty. His wealth goes and his friends. He took 
the great calamities kindly. He did not sin when his 
family was taken away or when his herds and flocks 
were taken away. You would not know but that he 
was the very best of men. It was not until his three 
friends talk to him and he showed himself under the 
attacks of those three friends that you see the man. 
All that was in him got stirred and Job talks back every 
time. But when God spoke to him, he became humble, 
and in the last chapter of the book you find Job saying, 
'1 have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear : but 
now mine eye seeth thee.'' "I abhor myself." What 
do you abhor. Job ? '1 abhor the whole business and 
repent." And then he prayed for those lovely friends 
of his, and it is written that when Job prayed for his 
friends, the Lord turned the captivity of Job. Some 
of us may lose our bonds when we pray for friends 
such as these. Pray for your friends, one by one. 
And then we read that God gave Job 140 years of life, 
twice as many sheep and camels and oxen and asses, as 
many more children, and if he had the family in heaven 
that he lost, he had just twice as many children. If he 
was a prospered man before, he was more than pros- 
pered afterwards. 

We do not know the meaning of El Shaddai so long 
as we talk of what we do. We will not learn it, until 
we have learned the insufficiency of ourselves. Scrip- 
ture tells us we are not sufficient to think, and if we 



36 



STUDIES IN THE 



cannot think a thought, why should we attempt any- 
thing else. But our sufficiency is of God. I earnestly 
pray that the meaning of the word El Shaddai will be 
as much to you, ten times as much as it has been to me. 
I do thank God I know somewhat of the meaning of 
the word El Shaddai, the God who will prove all- 
sufficient when we cease from ourselves. 

Verse 9 : *'I John, who also am your brother, and 
companion in tribulation." '1 John" makes us think 
of Paul when he said ''I Paul." "I John," the very 
same John who had leaned upon Jesus' bosom, that dis- 
ciple whom Jesus loved. 'Who also am your brother," 
makes us think of our Lord who said to Mary on the 
morning of the resurrection, "Touch me not; for I am 
not yet ascended to my Father : but go to my brethren, 
and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your 
Father ; and to my God, and your God." That meant 
that Mary was His sister, did it not ? Also, ''whoso- 
ever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, 
the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." "Go 
and tell my brethren." Do you believe this very mo- 
ment, fellow believers, that the Lord Jesus Christ is 
your own brother? He has condescended to call you 
His brothers, His sisters. He is the best brother ever 
heard of. Brothers on the earth are not always the 
best kind. They misunderstand you. But this brother 
will never misunderstand you. He knov/s us thor- 
oughly. He is a brother born for adversity. He is 
more than a brother. He is a companion. If John was 
a good brother, a good companion, how much more is 
our Lord Jesus Christ. How do you treat your com- 
pany? Do you act as if He was not there? Do you 
sit down to read a book without asking Him to read it 
with you ? That is not the right way to treat your com- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 37 



panion, is it? Realize the blessing and fellowship of 
our Companion. 

I attended the funeral of an old lady once who had 
been a member of my congregation and, while waiting 
for the service to begin, I saw her Bible on the table 
and picked it up, and found in it a piece of paper with 
these words pencilled upon it, "Dear Lord Jesus, let us 
read the Book together," and then I saw at a glance 
somewhat of the reason of the old lady's joy in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. "Dear Lord Jesus let us read the 
Book together." She was in the habit of living in His 
presence. Now, friends. He is your companion. He is 
with you. Do treat Him as you ought to treat the best 
friend you have in the universe. 

"Companion in tribulation." Our Lord said in John 
i6: 33, "In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be 
of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Our 
Lord was in tribulation Himself, and He knows all 
about it. He can sympathize. We can pity each other, 
but we cannot feel for each other unless we have been 
in similar circumstances. Therefore, our brother can 
feel for us. "Brother and companion in tribulation." 
We must not fear tribulation. Sometimes it is the best 
thing that can come to us. Sometimes the richest bless- 
ings come to us in tribulation. All our tribulation is to 
fit us for our future priesthood, for present and also 
for future service. 

"Was in the isle called Patmos." Why was John in 
Patmos ? "For the word of God, and for the testimony 
of Jesus Christ." For the word of God and "the testi- 
mony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy." Rev. 
19: 10. The testimony of Jesus will still tend to send 
people into a Patmos experience. If you come to love 
the word of God as you ought to, some people will not 



38 



STUDIES IN THE 



like you. Some people will wish you were in China, or 
Africa, or South America, and perhaps the Lord 
wishes you were there too. It will lead us into the 
right path, somewhat more narrow, and more lonely in 
some respects. There are some who will not stand too 
much of a Scriptural Hfe. It has been said that if we 
could only see goodness personified, every one would 
love goodness. It is a mistake. It is not true. The 
Lord Jesus Christ was goodness and righteousness per- 
sonified, He was everything that is good. Did every 
one love Him ? We know better than that. The circle 
of His followers narrowed down until at the cruci- 
fixion all forsook Him. It is not true that if we could 
see all goodness and humility on the earth everybody 
would love it. No, they would hate it. The light 
would be too strong for their eyes. They like goodness 
that is just very medium. No, it is below medium. 
When you get the real kind of Christianity into you, 
it is somehow against the carnal mind, and people 
won't stand it. If some of the Patmos experiences 
come your way don't think it strange. Even both these 
experiences may await you. 

''I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." There is 
nothing accomplished for you spiritually except by the 
Spirit. You cannot read the Bible with profit except 
by the Spirit. The natural man receiveth not the things 
of God. It is the Spirit that must teach us, and unless 
the Spirit teaches us, we cannot be taught. Ezekiel, 
Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, and even Bezaleel and 
Aholiab, who were appointed to do the work in the 
Tabernacle, were more specially filled with the Spirit 
of God. It is possible for us to live in the Spirit, walk 
in the Spirit, and live Spirit-controlled lives. If we 
could only be awakened to a real desire to have a Spirit- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



39 



controlled life, in due time (I do not know how long it 
would take) but if we are in earnest about it, God 
would lead us to that place where we would have a life 
controlled in word and deed by the Spirit of God. 
There is room for great growth in this direction. 

''On the Lord's day." That may mean the first day 
of the week. I am not sure about this. I give you the 
two thoughts. Take them both if you will. It may 
mean the first day of the week which we sometimes 
call the Lord's day. This is the only place I think that 
it is so called, if it is so called. It may mean the first 
day of the week, but the seventh day is the only Scrip- 
tural Sabbath. But it m.ay mean on that particular day 
John was specially in the Spirit. This is only a sugges- 
tion. There is an Old Testament phrase to this effect, 
''the day of the Lord." Now the Book of Revelation 
is a description, an opening up of the "day of the 
Lord," which is so often mentioned in the Old Testa- 
ment. Now there is a possibility (I do not say this is 
positively so) that the meaning of this phrase is that 
John was by the Spirit carried forward into the events 
of the day of the Lord. "I was in the Spirit on the day 
of the Lord." Whichever seems to you most simple, 
most Scriptural, take it, and make this application at 
least : "The Lord grant me, when I sit in thy house, 
when I live through one of these first days of the week, 
grant me to be fully subject unto the Spirit." Some- 
time we will know whether he was in the Spirit on the 
first day of the week, or carried forward to the day of 
the Lord. 

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard be- 
hind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." 

He heard a voice behind him and he turned to see 
the voice that spake with him. If John had not turned 



40 



STUDIES IN THE 



to see the voice, he might have missed all this glorious 
revelation. Are you not glad that John turned to see 
the voice. Some of usi would have been too busy. 
When Moses was keeping sheep he saw the bush burn- 
ing, and it is written, "I turned aside to see this great 
sight." It is also written that when God saw that 
Moses turned aside to see that then God spoke to him. 
If Moses had not turned aside to see what might he 
have missed! I believe there are burning bushes and 
voices behind and around us all through our daily lives, 
but time is so precious, and we are so busy, we cannot 
turn aside to see that burning bush, or to hear vv^hat 
that voice may say to us. May not every event in life, 
and especially the strange things that come along our 
way, may they not all be compared to burning bushes 
and voices to get our attention? He is doing all He 
can to get our attention, to talk to us and reveal Him- 
self to us. I am glad that John turned around to see 
and he saw ''seven golden candlesticks" (lampstands). 
These are explained to us in the last verse of the chap- 
ter. The seven candlesticks are the seven churches, 
suggestive of all churches in all time, suggestive of the 
whole church of the Living God. John saw seven 
golden candlesticks : seven, — complete ; gold, — di- 
vine. In the story of the tabernacle and the Temple, 
the gold is suggestive of the divinity of Christ. Take 
the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was made of wood, 
— acacia wood, incorruptible w^ood, suggestive of the 
incorruptible humanity of Christ, — and covered with 
gold, suggestive of the divinity of Christ. These two 
natures of Christ, His humanity and His divinity are 
seen everywhere throughout the Temple. But these 
candlesticks stand for the church. Are you all gold, 
fellow believers? Not yet. No, not yet. There is a 



BOOK OF REVELATION 41 



good deal of wood about me yet, the old man about me 
yet. Did you ever hear of a church on earth that is all 
gold? We would like to join it if you have found it. 
There is a good deal of dross about it. How is it that 
Christ saw the church as golden? Were Pergamos, 
Sardis and the rest of them all good ? How did He see 
them all gold? Let me ask another question. It is 
written away back in the Book of Numbers. In one of 
the prophecies of Balaam the Lord said, ''I have not 
beheld iniquity in Jacob nor perverseness in Israel." 
Was there no perverseness in Israel ? How was it that 
God did not see it? A little boy when asked if there 
was anything God could not see, replied (he must have 
been a wise Httle boy) *'God cannot see my sins through 
the blood of Jesus Christ." God blots out our sins, and 
when He sees us in Christ, He sees us as Christ. Oh 
what a comfort it is that He sees us not as we are but 
as Christ, as we will be when we are finished. We are 
not finished yet. Therefore when you have people at 
home that try your patience, just look on them kindly, 
and say ''You will be just beautiful when you are fin- 
ished." And when you try other people's patience, let 
them say to us, "You will be just beautiful when you 
are finished." Let us remember we are dealing with 
people who are not finished yet. We will be finished 
on that morning when we awake in His likeness. All 
patience and meekness and gentleness ; let us love each 
other for Christ's sake. 

''And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like 
unto the Son of man." Here's a view of our Lord you 
want to memorize. Here is our Lord Himself, as John 
saw Him, in the midst of the candlesticks. I am sure 
our Lord is here this afternoon. If we would Hsten as 
in His presence, speak as in His presence, we would 



42 



STUDIES IN THE 



profit more by our meditations. I wish we all might, 
that I might, realize His presence more fully. This I 
do know that the fact of His presence "in the midst" 
has been for many a year the greatest thing to me in 
the service. I began to realize this when I was con- 
ducting a mission in the north end of Boston along in 
iSyG-yS; no later than that. I went to see a lady who 
was shut in. She had been upon her bed for thirty- 
five years, and had not spoken a word in that time. 
She would write on a slate. I said to her, "Give me a 
verse," and she would point to a motto at the foot of 
the bed, "Lo I am with you always." I said, "You 
gave me that before, give me something else." She 
just folded her arms and looked so peaceful. I said to 
her, "Is it that that has kept you quiet all these years ?" 
She nodded her head. And those visits to that woman 
wrote that verse upon my heart. "I am with you all 
the days." And going down from that room and invit- 
ing the sailors in to the mission and they saying, "Yes, 
we will be there." And going and finding they were 
not there, and sitting down all alone and singing a 
hymn, the Lord Jesus alone in the room, and by and by 
I hear a foot on the stair, and then another, and finally 
they would come trooping in. Many a time I began the 
service with no one present. Some people won't begin 
a prayer meeting, won't begin the Sunday school until 
a certain number are present. Sing a hymn and go 
ahead. The Lord is in the midst. And in that mission 
from week to week for a couple of years, the Lord did 
show His power in the salvation of souls. I never saw 
the like of it before or since. The blessedness of the 
promise "I will be in the midst" has become somewhat 
of a reality to me. "In the midst of the candlesticks." 
It is nothing to me, friends, what you think of what I 



BOOK OF REVELATION 43 



say here ; but it is everything to me what He thinks of 
what I am saying. I cannot tell you what a help this 
has been in the Bible classes. It is not my business to 
please people, and I do not please them always. I have 
had it said to me, ''You will be excused from meeting 
here." Please the Lord anyhow. Just speak His word. 
Go along quietly, living unto Him. We are going to 
meet Him some day on His return, as our Judge, not 
for our sins. We will be judged for our works. Let 
us live as if He was in the midst. I believe there is no 
promise in Scripture that will do more to rectify one's 
life than the promise, '1 am with you in the midst of 
you." 

What does He look like? ''Clothed in a garment 
down to the foot." He is our high priest, our true 
Melchizedek, — "clothed in a garment down to the foot 
and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle." In 
living illustration of the divine minister. This very 
moment, this afternoon, the Lord Jesus Christ is car- 
ing for each of you here present ; He is thinking about 
you ; He is planning for you ; He is making the power 
of His arm and the love of His heart work together 
for your good. Then be not afraid of anybody, nor 
look at this or that adversary whom God may permit 
to cross your path. They are nothing to you. The 
Almighty will attend to you, the Mighty One, who is 
all-sufficient. If we have no plans, no aims, no 
thoughts of our own. He will work out His thoughts. 
He will be our priest. Thank God for the High Priest 
ministering to us moment by moment, "clothed with a 
garment down to the foot." 

"His head and his hairs were white like wool, as 
white as snow." Suggestive at least of purity, intense 
purity. He makes us, when we beheve upon Him, 



44 



STUDIES IN THE 



whiter than snow. "His head and His hairs were 
white like wool," which means even as to His intellect, 
His brain is as white as snow, — intense purity. 

''And His eyes were as a flame of fire." How pene- 
trating, how searching ! That word translated ''flame" 
is just used seven times in Scripture ; in the New Tes- 
tament in five places, I think it is. It refers to Christ 
once, and refers to His ministers, and once to the tor- 
ment in which the rich man found himself. Inasmuch 
as when people die in their sins, they do not go to the 
lake of fire, — they go out somewhere where they are 
kept until the judgment of the Great White Throne, 
they do not go at once to the lake of fire, — what did that 
rich man mean when he said "I am tormented in this 
flame" ? See the sixteenth of Luke. The word "flame" 
is the identical word used elsewhere of Christ, His 
eyes of fire. That part of the torment of the lost be- 
tween death and resurrection is the laying bare of a 
misspent life and with no possibility of forgiveness, — 
nothing but a fearful looking forward to judgment. I 
do not say that is so, but it is strongly suggestive of the 
probability that a large part of the torment of the lost 
between death and resurrection is the laying bare of a 
life that cannot be forgiven, a misspent life. The rich 
man was a sinner, and he had to remember. It is an 
awful thing to have to remember, to have your life pass 
before you, and you cannot get rid of it, you cannot 
shut it out. But what a blessed thing to have the 
whole thing blotted out, and the Lord says, "I will re- 
member it no more." 

"And His feet like unto fine brass," suggestive pos- 
sibly of righteous judgment. I give you the best I have 
on this. "And his voice as the sound of many waters." 
I have nothing on this. I have looked in vain for 



BOOK OF REVELATION 45 



something satisfactory as to the significance of the 
voice that sounds Hke many waters. I know that 
waters in the Book of Revelation signify nations. It 
may mean the voice for all nations. It may mean the 
grandness of the cataract or ocean. There is more in 
this verse than we have seen. 

''And he had in his right hand seven stars.'' The 
stars are the angels of the seven churches. God holds 
in His hand those whom He places to read the word in 
His churches. I believe there is more than that to it. 
He holds in His hand every believer. John lo : 29, ''No 
man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." 
Fellow believer, if you are a behever, you are in the 
hand out of which no man can pluck you. 

"And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged 
sword." How is the word of God a two-edged sword ? 
It kills and it makes alive. It is a two-edged sword. 

"And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his 
strength." "His countenance was as the sun" for He is 
the Sun of Righteousness. 

"And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead." 
John fell down as a dead man, he could not stand the 
glory. He fell at His feet as dead. How can the un- 
saved sinner ever meet God, if John who used to lean on 
His bosom could not bear the glory. They will call for 
the rocks and mountains to fall on them. Rev. 6 : 16. 

"And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear 
not; I am the first and the last." He laid His right 
hand upon him,— the hand that had raised the little 
girl to life. He lays His right hand upon John, and 
says, "Fear not." Here's the cure for every fear. The 
hand of Christ is laid upon you and Christ says "Fear 
not, I am he that liveth." 

"I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I 



46 



STUDIES IN THE 



am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of 
hell and death.'' "The keys of hades and death" the 
place of departed spirits, that place which holds the 
people until Christ comes in His kingdom. He says 
''Fear not, I was dead and am alive for evermore. I 
have all power, even the keys of hades and death. Do 
not be afraid." 

"Write the things which thou hast seen" (the first 
chapter) "and the things which are" the second and 
third chapters, "and the things which shall be here- 
after" the rest of the book. And then He explains the 
stars and the candlesticks. 

We will try to give you a summary of the next three 
chapters and then pass on to the fifth chapter. 

May Christ be the greatest reality in your life, say- 
ing, "Fear not, for I am with you.". 

Prayer : 

Our Father and our God, we thank Thee that our 
Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour is one who died, who 
rose from the grave and is alive for evermore, one who 
has all power in heaven and all power on earth ; one 
who has the keys of hades and death ; and who is con- 
tinually saying to each believer this afternoon, "Fear 
not." Then let the heart of each believer reply, "I will 
trust and not be afraid." And Lord make us to realize 
that Thy hand is upon us, and this afternoon, and this 
evening, and on the morrow, if Thou shalt tarry, and 
through the coming days, make us to live as in the 
presence of Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire. Oh 
Lord, deliver us from grieving Thee, from doing any- 
thing that would grieve Thee. Draw us back from 
going to any place that would grieve Thee. Just take 
possession of us and keep possession of us for Thy 



BOOK OF REVELATION 47 



glory. May our hearts daily say to Thee, "I am thine 
O Lord." Now Lord just work through us and fulfil 
in us all the good pleasure of Thy will. The Lord 
2:rant it. Amen. 



Chapters 2 and 3. 

A question was handed me last week, for which I 
will take a moment. ''How can we answer a skeptic's 
criticism on the discrepancy between Matthew's and 
Luke's account of the genealogy of Christ ?" I suppose 
only a skeptic would find any discrepancy. A simple- 
minded person will be content with the record. I 
would most heartily commend to every lover of the 
Bible a book called ''Israel My Glory" by John Wilkin- 
son of London, — an old man now and one of the best 
Bible students I ever met, about the richest man in the 
Scriptures that I ever came in contact with. You 
would surely enjoy "Israel My Glory." In the sixth 
chapter of that book you will find the story of these 
two genealogies, a word about them to show you how 
beautiful they are. There are only two persons spe- 
cially interested in the birth of Christ, Joseph and 
Mary. They come nearer to Him in His birth than 
any other persons. In the Gospel by Matthew you 
have the genealogy of Joseph, that is safe, from Abra- 
ham down to Joseph the husband of Mary ; and if you 
will read carefully that genealogy in Matthew, the first 
chapter, you will see that it runs from Abraham down 
through Isaac, Jacob, Judah, down to David, through 
Solomon, and on through the kingly line, the royal line, 
down to Joseph, for Joseph, the husband of Mary was 
of the royal line descended from David. The Lord 
Jesus Christ was not Joseph's son, or he would have 
been disqualified for David's throne. Why? In the 
table in Matthew you will find that the son of Josiah, 

48 



BOOK OF REVELATION 49 



Jechonias or Jehoiakim, is mentioned, and it is written 
in the Book of Jeremiah that no son of Jehoiakim shall 
ever sit on David's throne, — so that had Christ been 
the son of Joseph He never could sit on David's throne. 

In the Gospel by Luke you have another table. 
Some think it is a discrepancy. If you follow it care- 
fully, you will find it goes in the other direction. You 
have a perfect agreement all the way down from Abra- 
ham to David, and then, instead of running from David 
through Solomon, Solomon is not mentioned, but Solo- 
mon's brother, Nathan, is mentioned, and then on down 
to evidently Mary. It is a different line, not the royal, 
— it is the natural line from Nathan. Two different 
lines, — Matthew's is from David down through Solo- 
mon to Joseph, Luke's from Nathan to Mary. A lit- 
tle boy going home from school met another Httle boy 
and said, "We had a baby come to our house last 
night." His companion said, '*Boy or girl ?" The lit- 
tle boy said, "Guess." "Boy." "Guess again." We 
don't need to guess again. Matthew's is the story of 
Joseph's genealogy, Luke's must be the genealogy of 
Mary. The Lord Jesus Christ is the son of David. 
Through Mary the Lord Jesus Christ has no right to 
the throne, but the marriage completes the whole thing. 
Jesus becomes the heir to David's throne through the 
marriage of Mary to Joseph, Joseph being the heir 
through the kingly line. 

We come to our meditation of the afternoon. We 
purpose glancing at the second and third chapters of 
the Book of Revelation. We w^ould certainly do well 
to make a special study of each of these seven epistles. 
If the Lord spare us to journey together through the 
book we will come back to the second and third chap- 
ters and make a special study of each Epistle. They 
4 



STUDIES IN THE 



are about the richest portions of Scripture for the 
church to-day, Christ's last message to His church on 
earth. 

I asked your attention last week to the three-fold di- 
vision of this book. It is found in the nineteenth verse 
of the first chapter : "Write the things which thou hast 
seen, and the things which are, and the things which 
shall be hereafter." 

*'The things which thou hast seen" — chapter one. 

"The things which are" — chapter two and three. 

"The things which shall be hereafter," chapter four 
to the end. But let me give you an outline of the whole 
book with a little more detail than that. 

Chapter i : Christ in the midst of the Churches, — 
those truly members of Christ's body. That is the ac- 
count of Christ in the midst of the candlesticks. 

Chapters 2 and 3 : His last message to the church on 
earth. 

Chapters 4 and 5 : The church translated, gone from 
the earth. 

Chapters 6 to 18 inclusive : Events on earth after the 
church's translation. 

Chapter 19: The marriage of the Lamb, and the re- 
turn of Christ to judge the nations. 

Chapter 20 : The thousand years of Christ's personal 
reign, with the devil in the pit. 

Chapters 21 and 22 : The new heaven and earth. 

That is as simple an outline as I ever saw of the 
book. It is, as you will easily recognize, the futurist 
interpretation. 

There are several ways of reading Revelation. I 
think we can all shake hands, those who read the book 
with the historic interpretation, and those who read it 



BOOK OF REVELATION 51 



with the futurist's. I purpose reading it on the fu- 
turist's, as it is the way I have found it most beneficial. 
I have no doubt at all that some events in this book 
have had a foreshadowing down through the ages. As 
Lord Bacon says, 'Trophecy may have a springing and 
a germanent accomplishment down through the ages ; 
while the complete fulfilment is for some future 
period." Calvinists and Arminians might shake hands 
and climb over the roof and look into each other's 
faces. If they did they would get along better. 
Those who love the Lord Jesus Christ must shake 
hands and unite hearts to win souls to complete the 
church, and that which each one can do is to pass on 
the best they have and wait for more light, never think- 
ing that we fully understand any matter, for we know 
only in part. ''Then shall we know even as we are 
known." "If any man thinketh that he knoweth any- 
thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." 
We never exhaust a text, we never exhaust a subject 
in the Bible. We simply get a little glimpse of it and 
look for more. 

, In these seven Epistles, our Lord has a message for 
seven of the churches at that time, and in that message 
He gives us something for all churches of all time. 
One has said, ''The seven Epistles give every phase of 
Christian society which will ever be found in Christen- 
dom ; at the same time they foreshadow the successive 
predominant phases of the churches 'until He come.' " 
I think this a very good sentence. They give us every 
phase that shall ever be evinced in any church in any 
age. 

At the same time there may be in these seven Epis- 
tles the history of the church from His going in hu- 
miliation until He comes again to receive the church 



52 



STUDIES IN THE 



to Himself, There are those who think the Epistle to 
the Church at Ephesus describes the condition of the 
church in the days of the Apostles ; that the Epistle to 
the church at Smyrna has a special reference to the 
time of the persecutions ; that the Epistle to Pergamos 
has special reference to the time when the church be- 
came a high power and very worldly through Con- 
stantine; Thyatira, which means unwearied sacrifice, 
speaks of the unwearied sacrifice of the church at 
Rome ; Sardis, the time of the Reformation ; Philadel- 
phia, the present time, the fellowship of the times in 
which we live, when people are more than ever before 
in brotherly love; Laodicea looks forward to the time 
when the church will be ready to be spued out of the 
mouth, to the time when Christ will come and take 
away the true church and the rest will be left for the 
tribulation. This is very interesting to some people, 
"and is to me. At the same time, all the churches in 
Philadelphia to-day might find something very profita- 
ble in each of these seven Epistles. Judgment is to 
begin at the house of God. i Peter 4: 17. But such 
of us as are The Church of Christ will be His compan- 
ions in judgment. The Lord wrote those seven Epis- 
tles, most lovingly that we should be led to look at our- 
selves that we may learn to judge ourselves and save a 
lot of judgment by and by when we meet Him in the 
air. I Cor. 11 : 31, ''For if we would judge ourselves, 
we should not be judged." 

God speaks of four judgments, in three of which we 
have a special interest. It might be well to take up the 
book on the line of the four judgments. If you take 
the whole history of the Bible, you have many judg- 
ments. You might call the sending of Adam and Eve 
out of Eden a judgment; and the deluge a judgment; 



BOOK OF REVELATION 53' 

the confusion of tongues at Babel a judgment; the 
captivity of Israel and Judah, a judgment. So you 
might go through Scripture and see many judgments. 
But when I speak of the four judgments, I do not go- 
back beyond the cross. In the cross of Christ we see 
the judgment of God upon sinners, as He, Christ, our 
Saviour, our Substitute, bore, in His own body, some- 
how (I cannot explain it, I only take the facts, the 
statement that the sins of the whole world He laid 
upon Him, the iniquities of us all. That is the state- 
ment, that is the fact, whether we can understand it or 
not) he made redemption not only for our sms, but tor 
the sins of the whole world. There is an atonement 
there is a sufificient atonement in the death of Christ 
for the world. There is a sufficiency for those who 
accept Him and there is enough for the world. But it 
is only effectual for those who come. If the world 
would come, they would be saved. It is our business 
to make it known that they may come if they will.. 
"Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. 
On Calvarv, on Golgotha, on the cross, the sins of those 
who accept Christ were forever put away. There was 
a sufficiency for all. Those who accept Him have the 

benefit. . , ^ . 

I look back to the cross of Christ, the judgment for 
my sins, and if I have accepted Christ, if I believe m 
Him if I receive Him as my Saviour, as my personal 
Saviour, I take His word for it: "That whosoever be- 
lieveth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life 
Isaiah 43:25: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out the 
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remem- 
ber thy sins." Many a Christian have I asked, Do 
you expect some day to be judged for your sins?" and 
many a one has answered, "Yes, at the Great Judgment 



54 



STUDIES IN THE 



Day I expect to have my sins come before me for some 
reason, and then I will see whether I am saved or not." 
''And you do really receive Christ?" ''Yes, I do." 
"Why not believe God?" "I thought I did." '"Let us 
believe a verse in Isaiah 43-25," and after reading 
carefully, how many I have seen look up, and I have 
said, "What's the matter ?" And they have answered, 
"He says, 'He will not remember them.' " "I know He 
said it, that is why I asked you to read the verse. Now 
do you expect as a believer in Christ to go into judg- 
ment for your sins?" They have answered, "No." 
"Why not?" "He says He has blotted them out and 
He will never remember them." "Well, thank Him." 
O God I thank Thee that having received the Lord 
Jesus Christ my sins are all blotted out. 

The judgment for sins for the believer is passed, 
eighteen hundred years ago on Golgotha, when Christ 
died for our sins. As we journey on and being 
tempted, sometimes fall, it is written, "If we confess 
our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is a 
word for the child of God, but we do not become chil- 
dren of God until we accept Christ as our Saviour. 
There are no children of God recognized in Scripture 
except those who have received Christ. Until we ac- 
cept Christ we are not, according to the Scriptures, 
children of God. "He that hath the Son hath life ; he 
that hath not the Son of God hath not life." The 
church is a company of people who, having received 
Christ, can look back at the cross of Christ and say, 
"There is the judgment for my sins in the person of 
Christ. If He shall not come into condemnation, I 
shall not, if I have become a member of His body." 
One of the three judgments ahead of us is a meeting 



BOOK OF REVELATION 55 



with Christ in the air, a meeting of all His redeemed 
people before the Judgment Seat of Christ. The judg- 
ment seat of Christ is only mentioned twice, Romans 
14: ID, "We shall stand before the judgment seat of 
Christ" And 2 Cor. 5 : 10, "For we must all appear 
before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one 
may receive the things done in his body, accordmg to 
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Some 
read carelessly and think that "all" includes all who 
ever lived from Adam down, and they confound the 
Judgment Seat of Christ with the Great White Throne. 
And sometimes in prayer-meeting Christians will speak 
to and pray for others as if they were all going to the 
Great White Throne. Let us see to what these two 
passages refer. 

"We must all appear before the judgment seat of 
Christ." In the beginning of these Epistles, as in the 
beginning of every Epistle, we would do well to notice 
to whom the epistles were written, and you will find 
that these epistles were written to the saints and be- 
lievers, not to unbeUevers. And when the Epistle says, 
"We must all appear before the judgment seat of 
Christ," not only the beginning, but the context of the 
text will show who are meant. For example, take this 
2 Cor. 5 : 10, the Apostle goes on to tell how glorious 
it will be to be absent from the body and present with 
the Lord. Is he talking like that to unbelievers? No, 
they have no such hope as that. He is talking to Chris- 
tians, saints, beUevers. Christians, we must all appear 
before the judgment seat of Christ. No unsaved soul 
will be at the judgment seat of Christ. You will find 
that even in the first Psalm. In the first Psalm you 
read, "The ungodly shall not rise in the judgment, nor 
sinners in the congregation of the righteous." No, you 



56 



STUDIES IN THE 



have that wrong. '^The ungodly shall not stand in the 
judgment/' I know, but I know this also, that the verb 
translated "stand" is the very verb elsewhere trans- 
lated and with good reason, "rise" as from the dead. 
You have good authority to read "the ungodly shall 
not rise in that judgment." Not my authority, I have 
none. But the authority of the meaning of words. 
"The ungodly shall not rise in the judgment, nor sin- 
ners in the congregation of the righteous," but only 
those who are Christ's. Should the Lord Jesus come 
to the air to-day, and He may come any time (I am 
glad Mr. Moody said that much among lots of other 
things ; I hope the vast congregation that heard him be- 
Heved what he said), every Christian would disappear 
in a moment from the city, on the streets, or from our 
homes, and the body of every saint would rise from 
the dead, and the living would be changed, and they 
would all meet Him in the air. But only the Chris- 
tians. The bodies of the unsaved will sleep in their 
graves for a thousand years. Rev. 20. Then the 
Christians having left the earth, the righteous having 
risen from the dead, and the righteous living having 
been changed, we meet the Lord in the air to be judged 
for our works ; for since the time we received Christ 
we have been building either that which is comparable 
to gold, silver and precious stones, or that which is 
comparable to wood, hay and stubble. He whose 
works will not stand the test of our Lord's penetrating 
eye, our Lord's searching glance with His eyes of fire 
will have his works burned up and he may find himself 
saved, but so as by fire, i Cor. 3 : 11 to 15. The judg- 
ment seat of Christ, when the Christian shall meet Him 
in the air, is to see if their works will stand and to ap- 
point them their places in His kingdom. Then after a 



BOOK OF REVELATION 57 



period, God only knows how long, I cannot tell, — 7 
years, 40 or 70, after a period, during which we are 
with Christ in the air, and there is awful tribulation on 
the earth, we come back with Christ, for the ''Lord my 
God shall come, and all the saints" (Zech. 14:5) to 
judge the nations that are acting so strangely to-day. 
God has a controversy with the nations, and by and 
by He will judge the nations for their treatment of His 
people Israel. And when the nations of Europe have 
gathered all their armies against Jerusalem,— it will be 
at Jerusalem finally ; it may be Constantinople at pres- 
ent ; — but when the nations of Europe have gathered 
all their armies against Jerusalem in those dark days 
when the Anti-Christ shall have control of the people 
on the earth, (a mighty man he will be, a Napoleon, a 
Csesar, a Nero, [good in the eyes of people] , all rolled 
into one, he will be the devil incarnate, he will do won- 
derful things) then in those dark days, when Israel is 
in their own land, gathered back in tmbelief , and shall 
think it is all up with them, Christ shall come with His 
saints to judge the living nations. That is a judgment 
you have a hand in. Matthew 25 : 31. We read of the 
judgment of the living nations, when Christ shall come 
in His power and glory to deliver His people Israel and 
bring in the thousand years of righteousness on the 
earth, when there shall be righteousness everywhere, 
such as the world never saw, following the judgment 
of the nations. 

One glance at Matthew 25 : 31. Not a word is said 
about dead people there, no resurrection mentioned 
there. It is a judgment of living nations, when the Son 
of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory. Ask 
behevers, ''Where will you be then?" They will an- 
swer, "I hope I will be a sheep and go to the right 



58 



STUDIES IN THE 



hand." Then I call attention to a few verses like this, 
Col. 3 : 4, 'When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, 
then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Rev. 3 : 
21, ''To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with 
me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set 
down with my Father in his throne." One of the 
promises to the overcomer is that he will be "with 
Christ in His throne." And some other verses like 
these. When the judgment takes place according- to 
Matthew 25:31, where will you be? With Him in 
glory, with Him on His throne. What do you want to 
jump down among the sheep for? You don't want to 
be goats anyway. You will be neither sheep nor goats. 
Psalm 148. I Cor. 6 : 2, "Do ye not know that the 
saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall 
be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the small- 
est matters?" When the judgment of the nations 
takes place we, having already been judged for our 
works, will be Christ's associate judges. We, as Chris- 
tians, have a wonderful interest in these two judg- 
ments. Then comes the judgment of the Great White 
Throne, where I certainly never expect to see you, 
unless you remain ungodly and die in your sins. All 
the ungodly dead will come up at the second resurrec- 
tion, at the end of the thousand years. We will have 
been reigning with Christ in our immortal bodies for 
one thousand years. It is a place for the ungodly dead. 
It is a place we have no record that any believer shall 
ever be, it is for those whose names are not written in 
the Book of Life. Never let any one disabuse you of 
these facts. All those who die and remain in their sins 
will be at the great white throne. They will go to the 
lake of fire. Search and see if these things are so in 
the Book. If they are, then look into them. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



59 



These Epistles are to the church. The dearest thing 
to Christ on earth to-day is His church, His body. We 
are His body. Some things He don't Uke, some things 
He does ; and He would have you read these Epistles 
and see what He does and what He doesn't like. 
There is nothing obtained from the Bible without 
study. If you will do as I suggest, I am sure you will 
profit more by these seven Epistles, than if I should go 
on another hour and talk about them. I do ask you, 
friends, if you are in fellowship, to do as I am going 
now to suggest. I did it myself, and it has been very 
helpful. 

Take a half sheet of foolscap, rule it in seven ver- 
tical columns, as large as you can, so as to get it all in. 
Having ruled your sheet in seven vertical columns, 
leave a space at the top, write out the seven Epistles in 
these parallel columns. At the head of each column 
put the address : first column, "To the angel of the 
church at Ephesus,"— second column, "To the angel of 
the church at Smyrna, and so on, heading your columns 
with the address. Second item in the Epistle, the title 
of Christ : the first column, "These things saith he that 
holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh 
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." That 
will come second, Christ's title. He has a different 
title in each of the Epistles. These titles being along- 
side in these parallel columns, you will have before 
you at a glance the different titles of Christ. Third 
item, "I know thy works, etc." Comimendation. Write 
out the commendation in each Epistle. Fourth item : 
Rebuke or Admonition. There are two Epistles in 
which there is no rebuke, but there is an admonition. 
Fifth item : Exhortation, as in the Epistle to the church 
at Smyrna where he says, "Be thou faithful unto death, 



6o 



STUDIES IN THE 



and I will give thee a crown of life." Sixth: And 
here you will have to vary a little. In the first three 
Epistles you have this verse, first, ''He that hath an ear 
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 
Item 7: The promise to the overcomer. In the last 
four you have this inverted, the promise to the over- 
comer comes first and then the application "He that 
hath an ear let him hear." 

If you prepare these seven Epistles in this way and 
meditate upon them, I am sure you will have a greater 
blessing than if I should talk at greater length on them. 

Just one other word. Notice specially the titles of 
Christ. We want to know Him. There is only one 
person worth knowing. I read this Bible to know 
Christ. ''That I may know Him and the power of His 
resurrection," Paul said. And if we have a right spirit 
we will want to know Him too. He is at this moment 
the centre of heaven's adoration, and He ought to be 
the centre of earth's adoration. He will be in due time. 
"AH kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall 
serve Him." He is altogether lovely, King of kings. 
Lord of lords, my Saviour, who loved me and gave 
Himself for me. He lives up there for me. I am say- 
ing that for you. You and I hope to see Him. We 
will by and by. He will receive us unto Himself. He 
lets us stay here for Him on His behalf, that we may 
be wholly set apart for Him. 

As you write out these Epistles and these promises 
to the overcomer, say to Him, "Lord, Jesus, you just 
put your arm around me as I do it. Dear Lord Jesus 
let us do this together," and you will recognize His 
presence, you will be filled with His word and His 
Spirit, as you just take home to your own heart the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 6i 



words of this Epistle. The Lord give us an ear to hear 
what the Spirit says to the churches. 
Let us unite in prayer : 

Our Father and our God, we thank Thee for these 
messages from our Lord Jesus Christ, after He had 
been some sixty years, as we count time, up there in the 
glory after His ascension. We thank Thee, blessed 
Lord, that Thou hast ever led us to receive Thee as our 
own personal Saviour. We thank Thee for the assur- 
ance that our judgment for sin is passed, all passed on 
Calvary. But Thou hast kindly warned us that there is 
a judgment for our works awaiting us, and that if they 
do not stand the test they will be burned up, or we 
shall not be rewarded. It is written not a cup of cold 
water shall lose its reward. Lord, lead us then to live 
in the store, in the work-shop, on the street, at home, 
with the judgment seat of Christ in view. Let us not 
live that we may be ashamed there, but that we will 
have confidence in the prospect of meeting Thee. Help 
us to yield ourselves wholly to Thee, and then to think 
of coming back with Thee in Thy glory to judge the 
nations with Thee, and reigning with Thee those thou- 
sand years, of being forever with the Lord. Surely, 
surely, we can deny ourselves all indulgences. We can 
deny ourselves anything that Thou dost not love for 
the sake of fellowship with Thee. The Lord take con- 
trol of us every hour. Teach us to put the hand in 
Thine, and say with the whole heart, "Lord, I am 
Thine from this hour forth, Thine for time and eter- 
nity; and if Thou canst use this being of mine as a 
vessel for Thy pleasure, I truly hand it over." We ask 
it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And may 
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding 
keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 
Amen. 



Chapter 4. 

This is certainly a throne chapter. If you will take 
the trouble to count, you will find ''throne" fourteen 
times in this chapter (counting ''seats" as "thrones"). 
It is the greatest throne chapter in all the Bible. It re- 
minds us of the chapter we read in Isaiah. When 
Uzziah died, the Prophet Isaiah saw a throne : when 
the earthly king died, he saw a king that never died. 
I do not know anything more helpful in one's private 
life, church life, business life, or in any phase of Chris- 
tian life, than to remember there is a throne and our 
God and Father is on that throne, and He is controlling- 
things, although He seems to allow things to go in very 
strange ways. Let us never forget there is a throne, 
and our Father is upon the throne. When that fact 
takes hold of us we will be as quiet as the little child 
in the storm at sea. When asked the question, "Are 
you not afraid?" replied, "How can I be afraid when 
my father is at the helm." If we believe as Christians 
that our Father is managing our affairs, working all 
things for our good, we will have peace. John i6: 33, 
"These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye 
might have peace." Can anything be more restful than 
this? Having received the Lord Jesus Christ as our 
personal Saviour, we take His word for it that we are 
accepted in Christ, that we have in Him the forgive- 
ness of all our sins, that there is no condemnation to 
them that are in Christ Jesus, that our sins will never 
be mentioned against us. To go through the day's 
work with these facts filling you will make you happy. 

62 



BOOK OF REVELATION 63 



You are a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. If 
death overtakes you, you are, in a moment, with Christ, 
absent from the body, present with the Lord. If death 
overtakes you, you have made a great gain, for ''to 
depart and be with Christ is far better." So you go on 
quietly doing what your hands find to do, not afraid 
of the future, and saying this also, ''when Christ shall 
come, then body and soul I meet Him in the air. In a 
moment this mortal body becomes immortal, in a mo- 
ment this body is changed." We meet Him in the air 
to be forever with the Lord. What shall we do? Sim- 
ply see to it that we are walking in fellowship with 
Him. Let our great aim be to walk in fellowship with 
Him. Not can I go here or there, do this or that and 
take Christ with me, but, is Christ leading me here and 
there, is Christ inviting me to do this or that? Am I 
walking with Him? "When He putteth forth His 
sheep. He goeth before." Let us apply the question 
in that form to all our life. Is the Lord Jesus Christ 
clearly leading you into this? If He is. He will attend 
to it. Whereas if we are doing somewhat that may 
look good, but if we are running ahead of Him, we will 
have to run back some day and get in line behind Him. 

In this wondrous book in the Bible, the closing book, 
we have for our encouragement the closing of the story 
of earth's history. We have the summing up of all the 
prophecies that are recorded in this book. In the first 
chapter w^e see Christ in the midst of the Churches, 
for, as we said before, we say again that the church, 
the true church, is the dearest thing on earth to Christ, 
the church which is His body. He is the head, and we, 
if we are believers, are the members of His body. If 
we are as well in joint as my hand is at present with 
my body. He may accomplish through each member 



64 



STUDIES IN THE 



of His body that which He requires of it. One winter, 
when I was going to prayer-meeting, I fell down and 
broke my arm. I did not go to prayer-meeting that 
night, I went to the surgeon and had it set and then 
went home. It was a pretty good kind of an arm, but 
it was a helpless kind of thing, and although I spoke 
once and a while and I could not use it, I took it along 
with me everywhere. I often thought then and since 
that a great many Christians are like an arm out of 
joint. You belong to Christ, and He will take care of 
you, but He cannot use you. You are sick of the palsy, 
paralyzed. In our Sunday School lesson we read of a 
man full of palsy. It is very common among Chris- 
tians. It does not always last long. It is a special 
paralysis that comes on Sunday mornings, when the 
sky looks threatening, and they can't go to church. 
They are all right by dinner time. It shows itself in 
prayer-meetings, their tongues get paralyzed, they are 
dumb, when it comes to testifying for Christ ; and they 
have no power in the hand to get the pocket book open. 
They can hunt around for a stray cent, but when it 
comes to a quarter or bill, their hand is paralyzed to 
take it out. It is a kind of paralysis the devil works, 
much to God's dishonor and to the loss of many Chris- 
tians. When asked to visit a sick person, they say, we 
cannot go. The Lord deliver us from all lack of fel- 
lowship with Himself, and may He, the Head, have as 
good control of all the members of His body, as your 
head, if you are in good health, has control of all your 
members. And we will then have some work done for 
Christ. When we come to the last verse of this chap- 
ter, we will have a word, (it is doing me good), right 
on that line ; but I will reserve it a little. 

We read in this fourth chapter of Revelation: 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



65 



''After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in 
heaven : and the first voice which I heard was as it 
were of a trumpet talking with me ; which said, Come 
up thither, and I will shew thee things which must be 
hereafter." As we said, the first chapter gives Christ 
in the ml(fet of the churches; the second and third 
chapters His message to the church ; the fourth and 
fifth the church translated, gone from the earth. A 
great many believers do not accept that. They think 
that the church is going on and on until all the world 
becomes the church. They cannot tell where to find it 
in the Bible, or how to prove it, but they have that im- 
pression. If that is so, I wonder when it will be, be- 
cause at the present rate of increase there are more 
heathen in the world every year than the previous year. 
They grow faster than the church members are grow- 
ing. It is a most discouraging piece of business if that 
is what we are here for. Why not understand what 
the church is? The very name tells us. Ecclesiastical 
from ecclesia means a calling out, and the gospel is to 
call out from all nations a people who shall form 
Christ's elect church. An election is always something 
that is expected to do some other people good. The 
election of a President, Councilman or Mayor is for 
the good of others, getting men in office who will be a 
blessing. They do not always prove to be, but that is 
our aim. Now there is an election, friends, going on 
all the time, that will bring good government on the 
w^hole earth. If we were as zealous about this election, 
there would be something doing. It is coming though. 
God's time is coming. The earth is not going on toil- 
ing all the time. It will not be a repubHc. It will be a 
kingdom with a righteous King on the throne and with 
two elect bodies to rule, the Upper House, if you will, 
5 



66 



STUDIES IN THE 



the church, and elect Israel will be the Lower House, 
with Christ Jesus the King. There will be good gov- 
ernment on the earth then. There will be no settle- 
ment of the Eastern question until Christ comes. 
There may be some rifts in the clouds here and there, 
but if this Word is true, the only settlement of the 
question is the return of Christ and the restoration of 
Israel to their own land. Every beHever should be 
willing to die for that. The more we hasten the time 
of His coming, the more we hasten the time when 
every government shall become righteous, and then we 
shall have good government for all the world. There 
will be no more warships, no more soldiers, but every- 
thing prosperous. What a time it will be to live in ! 
The King a special friend to the poor and to him that 
hath no helper, even God who is on the throne. 

John saw ''a door opened in heaven.'' We shall find 
*'a door opened in heaven" just once more before we 
come to the end of the Bible. And just seven times in 
the Bible we read of ''heaven opened.'' It will be 
heaven some day on earth. It will be heaven now, if 
you are willing to let the King of heaven rule. ''And 
I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." 
Emphasize the words, "must be." Did you ever make 
a study of the "musts" of Scripture? Take the 
"musts" of our Lord Jesus Christ : "You must be born 
again." Though you are as righteous as Nicodemus 
was you will never see the kingdom of God unless you 
are born again. There is nothing in you by nature that 
can be developed into a child of God. All are by na- 
ture sinners. We must be born again, we must re- 
ceive from heaven something we never had, or we will 
never see the Kingdom of God. We must receive the 
Lord Jesus Christ, or we perish. "The Son of man 



BOOK OF REVELATION 67 



must be lifted up." ''I must work the works of Him 
that sent me." Just look up the ''musts" of our Lord. 

''And immediately I was in the Spirit : and, behold, 
a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne." 
We see in John caught up in the spirit or somehow 
into heaven, we see the suggestion of the catching up 
of the church. Let me repeat a few verses, i Thes. 
4: 16 and 18, "For the Lord Himself shall descend 
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and 
remain shall be caught up together with them in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we 
ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one an- 
other with these words." I was one afternoon in an- 
other state enjoying a few hours with a lot of fellow 
Christian ministers, one had a sermon, and one had a 
Bible study, and one this and another that, some one 
brought up this passage. With one or two exceptions, 
they all shook their heads, and said, "Very difficult, 
very difficult ! It is a very difficult passage." How can 
that be a difficult passage? It may be to people who 
are not willing to accept it as it reads. It is the only 
passage in all the Bible that has a statement following 
like this: "Wherefore comfort one another with these 
words." There are many comforts all through, but 
you do not find another passage finished with these 
words. The Bible is very difficult to two classes of 
people. It is a very difficult book to those who do not 
want to find what is there, and it is very difficult to 
those who want to find what is not there. It is a simple 
book to all others. Let us accept it as it reads. 

John was caught up, verse 2 : We cannot accomplish 
anything spiritually apart from the Spirit of God. 



68 



STUDIES IN THE 



Here's a book written by the Spirit of God, copyrighted 
every word, and God has given unto us the same Spirit 
that He may guide us into the truth of this book which 
He has written. Whether I am right or not, you judge. 
I cannot find time to go into the authorship of this or 
that book in the Bible. I skip those things. I am sat- 
isfied. Why? I am satisfied the Spirit has written the 
whole book, and that is enough for me. Therefore I 
take the Book, and whether I read Genesis, Isaiah, 
Jeremiah or Ezekiel, I say, ''The Spirit wrote this." 
He just used Moses, or Jeremiah, but the Spirit wrote 
this, and God has given me the Spirit and given you 
the Spirit to understand the Spirit's words. Therefore 
let us not make light of any word. The Spirit is our 
teacher. It is possible to live Spirit controlled lives. 

I am glad I was sitting in that meeting when one 
man rose up and said (and it made me feel ashamed 
too), ''If I wrote a letter to a friend of mine, and my 
letter was detained, so that I arrived at the friend's 
house first, and I am sitting there when the postman 
brings the letter in and it is handed to the man ; and 
he looks it over in my presence and puzzles over it, 
and right there, before me, he hands my letter to a 
third party and says, 'What do you think he means by 
this expression?' would I not think it odd to have 
my letter handed to a third party? You go and ask 
Scott or Henry or some of the other Commentators. 
What do you think the Spirit thinks of that? The 
Spirit is in you all the time." It made me ashamed, 
and I said to myself, "I will stop it, and I will ask the 
Spirit to show me the right meaning of this or that. 
Then after I have learned from the Spirit, I will go to 
Clark or Matthew Henry or some commentator and 
see if they have anything more." Thank God for all 



BOOK OF REVELATION 69 



the helpful helps that you can get, but give the Spirit 
the preeminence. 

"One sat on the throne/' our Father. We have been 
saying "Our Father" ever since we could talk. We act 
sometimes as if we had no Father, as if we were poor 
orphans without a father, wondering about something 
to eat or something to wear. "Your heavenly Father 
knoweth that ye have need of these things." Why 
labor for these things ? You have a Father, and if you 
have a Father, trust Him as if you had a Father, and 
when you say "Our Father," believe it. Some people 
don't say that any more. The question was asked in 
one of my Bible classes last week, whether we had a 
right to use this prayer ? Wasn't it made for the Jews ? 
I only say this, I love the prayer, I love that form of 
words. I never saw anything that could get ahead of 
that prayer. You are not committing a sin by using it. 
I am a little afraid of people that go ahead of it. What 
can you ask for that is not in that prayer, and as to 
prayer why, where will you learn to pray better than 
from the Psalms. Take the prayers from the Psalms 
and look at David's prayer in First Chronicles. David 
prayed because he had been doing something. "I have 
set my affection on the house of my God." And David 
tells us that he gave three thousand talents of gold and 
seven thousand talents of silver, because he had set his 
affection on the house of his God, — more than twenty 
millions of dollars did David give to the house of God 
out of his own private purse. And then he prays. We 
can pray when we are in fellowship with God, and then 
there will be something done. 

"And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and 
a sardine stone." No man has seen God. Every reve- 
lation of God is through the Son. No man has seen 



70 



STUDIES IN THE 



God. Whether we shall ever see God, I cannot say. 
I do not know. We shall see Christ. He that seeth 
Christ seeth God. Christ said, **He that seeth me seeth 
the Father." All John saw was that there was one on 
the throne, no form, all he saw was the appearance of 
jasper and the sardius. Jasper is clear as crystal and 
sardius is clear red. The one on the throne had the 
appearance of clear fire. Our God is a consuming fire. 
Some people think they are quoting from the Bible 
when they say, "God out of Christ is a consuming fire." 
But that is not in the Book. 

He wants to make us more like Himself. Let us not 
fear to have the dross burnt up this little while. 

And John saw a "rainbow round about the throne 
in sight like unto an emerald." Are you taking it in as 
we go along? There is a throne, and around the throne 
a rainbow. All the rainbows we see are broken by the 
earth. We only see half a rainbow. But this one is a 
perfect rainbow, a green rainbow, in sight like unto an 
emerald. We never see a green rainbow, but generally 
see all the colors. The rainbow is mentioned only four 
times in the Bible ; this one place, the other places are 
Rev. lo, in the Genesis story of the Deluge, and in 
Ezekiel. Four is the number of the earth. Four sug- 
gests worldwide. The rainbow suggests something 
about the earth. Green is earth's color, blue is heaven's 
color. The first time you meet the rainbow in Scrip- 
ture is where God sets it in the clouds after the Deluge 
to call Noah's attention to the fact that there never 
would be another flood. 

This rainbow says as clearly as a rainbow can speak 
that God is going to deal with the earth. There is an- 
other thought concerning it. It is a green bow. All 
the colors come from three, red, yellow and blue. The 



BOOK OF REVELATION 71 



color green is formed from yellow and blue, the red is 
left out. How is that? How is it the rainbow around 
the throne has no red in it? It has the other colors. 
Red is suggestive of the blood of Christ. It is by the 
blood we are redeemed. We are saved by the blood. 
We shall never cease to sing about the blood even in 
heaven; but when once we are there, we will never 
need the blood any more. 

These two thoughts are all I have for you. The 
green rainbow tells of God's faithfulness in connec- 
tion with the earth, that He will redeem this earth, and 
the green bow, inasmuch as there is no red in that color, 
there when we sing about the blood, we have got be- 
yond the need of that blood. We need it all the way 
through here. 

''And around about the throne were four and twenty 
seats : and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders 
sitting, clothed in white raiment." Seats or thrones. 
These elders, some think, suggest the Old Testament 
Saints, the living creatures, the New Testament church. 
I put them all together, the elders and living creatures 
and the song they sing in the next chapter that they 
are redeemed from all people and kindred and tongue 
and nation, and say they represent redeemed people 
from earth. I notice this however, that the living crea- 
tures are nearer the throne than the elders, but they are 
all round about the throne, in the midst of the throne. 
It may be the living creatures, the Cherubim, suggest 
the church redeemed out of all nations. The cry of 
the Cherubim, for these are the Cherubim, "Holy, holy, 
holy. Lord God Almighty," ought to be our song now. 
Let it be in some measure. And as the elders cast their 
crowns before the throne, they give glory to Him who 
sits upon the throne as we should be doing all the time. 



72 STUDIES IN THE 



There are five crowns spoken of in the New Testa- 
ment. You may get them and have them to cast at His 
feet. 

The Crown of Life is a special reward to those who 
endure. 

The Crown Incorruptible to those who mortify the 
flesh. 

The Crow^n of Rejoicing is for those who win souls. 
The Crown of Glory is for those who feed the flock. 
The Crown of Righteousness for those who love His 
appearing. 

When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, 
would it not be fine to have something to cast at His 
feet? 

''And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and 
thunderings and voices : and there were seven lamps of 
fire burning before the throne, which are the seven 
Spirits of God.'' 

The Spirit in His fulness taken away from the earth 
in His official capacity, not taken from the earth alto- 
gether. There will be more of the Spirit's work on the 
earth in the next age than there is in this. The Spirit 
has always been in the world since creation. He comes 
in special forms and for special purposes at special 
times. Now He works to gather out the church of 
Christ! 

We come down to the end of the chapter, and we 
notice that this is what they say, ''Thou art worthy, O 
Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for 
thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they 
are and were created." 

I suggest to you, friends, the way of victory over the 
devil. Whenever you feel very unworthy (and we 
ought to feel it all the time) cry out, "Thou art worthy, 



BOOK OF REVELATION 73 



Lord," and that will take your thoughts away from 
yourself. When the devil says, "You are not worthy," 
and you sometimes feel discouraged, cry out, ''Thou 
art worthy." Get your thoughts fixed on Him. It will 
help you on a fine day and on a stormy day, when busi- 
ness is good and when business is dull. In the very last 
part of the whole chapter, put in your own name and 
say, ''I am for Thy pleasure." This will just fit the 
fingers of both hands : ''Thou art worthy, O Lord, I 
am for Thy pleasure." Let us be saying it over and go 
out saying it. So whatever comes to us let us say, "All 
right. Lord, I am for Thy pleasure." 

I notice in these days people find fault. I just re- 
ceived a letter from a fellow minister saying he was 
looking up the character of another one, who is a child 
of God, and asked me if I knew anything about him. 

1 wrote back to this brother in the ministry, "It is my 
privilege to help such an one, and is it not a wonder 
the Lord can use any of us ?" It is poor business hunt- 
ing up people's characters. Let us not do it. Let us 
pray for them, let us help them, let us cry, "Thou art 
worthy, O Lord, and I am for Thy pleasure." 

Let us pray. 

Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee that Thou art 
up there on that throne. O that each one present might 
say, "My Father is on the throne !" "Our Father who 
art in heaven," O may we never cease to pray such 
words as those ! May they grow upon us, and may we 
also say, with more heartiness than ever before, "Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is done 
in heaven." O Lord, Thou art worthy. May each of 
us add, "and I am for Thy pleasure." Let us rejoice 
in the blood that cleanseth; let us rejoice in the home 



74 



STUDIES IN THE 



prepared for us; let us also rejoice in the works pre- 
pared for us. As we sit here, let each one say from 
the heart, '^He is altogether lovely, and I am His, and 
He may use me if He will. I am Thine, O Lord.'' 



Chapter 5. 

We will take just a moment or two on three ques- 
tions that were handed in last week. One is, "When 
shall the sheep and goats be divided ?" Another ques- 
tion answers that, so I will read the other one. '*Af ter 
the church is translated, and we return with Christ to 
reign and judge the nations, what is to become of the 
sheep, they cannot become the body of Christ, and the 
wicked ones, are they to follow the Beast into the lake 
of fire?" After the church is translated and we return 
with Christ to judge the nations, the question is what 
will then become of the sheep and the goats. The Lord 
answers the question. I need not answer it. The an- 
swer is found in Matthew 25. He will say to those 
who are called sheep, ''Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foun- 
dation of the world." Those are His own words. I 
think that is very plain. And He will say to the goats, 
''Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels." That is plain. 
What more do you want than that ? I feel like cling- 
ing very closely to the words of Scripture. Then the 
writer says, "they cannot become the body of Christ." 
No. Not all saved people can become the body of 
Christ. What about these saved people? They will 
be reigned over. There is a vast difference between 
reigning and being reigned over. If you are a child of 
God, you will be reigning with Christ. The world will 
be full of saved people during the next thousand years. 
You will have the privilege of reigning over them and 

75 



76 



STUDIES IN THE 



ministering the affairs of the world. When we elect a 
President and members of Congress, they are supposed 
to be doing the best they can for the country. I am 
not qualified to say whether they are doing it or not, 
but they are supposed to do it. When the Lord shall 
have His Senate and Congress, when He shall have 
His church, His body glorified (and you will form part 
of it if you are a Christian) and His elect Israel all 
righteous in their own land, one thing I am perfectly 
sure of, that there shall be justice and judgment and 
righteousness on all the face of the earth. The king- 
dom which we shall inherit as members of Christ's 
body is a kingdom prepared before the foundation of 
the world. The one spoken of in Matthew 25 is a 
kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. 
This is no hair-splitting difference. There is a differ- 
ence between the kingdom prepared before the founda- 
tion of the world, and the kingdom from the foundation 
of the world. The one is heavenly, the other is largely 
of the earth. Both are connected. 

One other question. Now I hope if I do not make it 
plain enough, you will be patient and ask me again. 
It is very interesting to get these questions. It shows 
somebody is thinking. Isaiah 60: 12, *'For the nation 
and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish ; yea, 
those nations shall be utterly wasted." The question 
is, is that the Jews or the church? I do not know 
where there is any record of the church in the Old 
Testament, except by type or shadow. The church 
was not a matter of Old Testament history. If you 
will read the third chapter of Ephesians (that gives it 
as clear as any place I know of) it will tell you that 
Paul was entrusted with the mystery of the church, a 
new thing which was not revealed in the Old Testa- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 77 



ment days. The place the Old Testament saints will 
have in the kingdom, we will see by and by. Possibly 
they are represented by the twenty-four elders we read 
of in our lessons of Revelation 4 and 5, and the church 
by the Cherubim. That is simply a suggestion. Hold 
it until you get something better. Who are these in 
Isaiah 60? If you would take the chapter and not the 
heading of the chapter, you would have no difficulty 
in understanding it. At the top of this chapter is this 
statement (in my Bible) "Enlargement of the Church." 
I do not believe a word of it. I am not doubting the 
Bible. It is not in the Bible. Some man put it there. 
I heard worse than that. I actually heard a thanks- 
giving sermon, and the old minister preached from 
Isaiah 60, and he actually said ''That chapter has its 
fulfilment in the United States. We are the people." 
The poor old fellow ! He did not believe the word of 
God concerning Israel. If you read it and take it as 
you find it, it is as plain as noonday. There are lessons 
for the church everywhere, but this chapter is not for 
the church. It concerns Israel. Take one statement, 
and let me ask you how it fits the church. Verse 5, 
''Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine 
heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abun- 
dance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces 
of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." "Forces" mar- 
gin "wealth." Verse 11, "Therefore thy gates shall be 
open continually ; they shall not be shut day nor night ; 
that men may bring unto thee the forces (wealth) of 
the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought." 
Now that just describes the church, doesn't it? Be- 
cause the nations are all of them carting their wealth 
into the church ! That fits the church beautifully ! 
The missionary boards do not know what to do with 



78 



STUDIES IN THE 



their money. I never heard of such a missionary so- 
ciety. But just wait a Httle and you will see all the 
nations on earth bringing all their wealth to the Jews. 
Perhaps you do not like that. The Jews, you think, 
have too much money already. When the Jews, as a 
nation, are converted to God and are ready to spend 
and be spent, you will see the nations bringing their 
treasure to them to convert the world. What would 
this world do to-day without the Jews and the money 
of the Jews. This is only a foretaste of what is com- 
ing. Isaiah 60 is a chapter about the Jews. 

Let us turn to Revelation 5. Since I have taken so 
much time upon these questions, I will not read the 
chapter. ''And I saw in the right hand of him that sat 
on the throne a book written within and on the back- 
side, sealed with seven seals." The principal thing in 
our lesson to-day is a book, and the book is in the right 
hand of Him on the throne. We saw that the person 
on the throne was our God. And this book is a sealed 
book. It is written within and without, and a cry is 
made by a strong angel, ''Who is worthy to take the 
book and to open the seals thereof So we say the 
great thing of this chapter is a book, a sealed book. 
Let us read a parallel passage. In the first chapter of 
Ezekiel we have, as you know, the story of the Cheru- 
bim, and we have a man upon the throne. It is very 
similar to the fourth of Revelation and the sixth of 
Isaiah. In the last part of the second chapter of 
Ezekiel, verses 9 and 10, we read, "When I looked, be- 
hold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a 
book was therein ; And he spread it before me ; and 
it was written within and without : and there was writ- 
ten therein lamentations and mourning, and woe." 



BOOK OF REVELATION 79 



That, however, was not a sealed book. That book was 
handed to Ezekiel that he might eat it. That, I suppose, 
is a figure. And that he might go and speak the words 
of the book to the children of Israel. We are com- 
manded to eat the book. Jer. 15 : i6, ''Thy words were 
found, and I did eat them ; and thy word was unto me 
the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." You can easily 
tell whether you eat the word of God or not. You may 
read a chapter or many chapters. A man wrote me the 
other day saying he had read the Bible through four 
times the past year. I am glad he has had time to do 
it, he has more time than I have, and I hope it has 
done him good. If we read the Bible just for the sake 
of reading it through, it will not do us much good. 
The great thing is how do you read it. Do you eat it 
as you read it ? For one statement eaten, made a part 
of your being, is better than a book or the whole book 
read through without any of it being eaten. We shall 
find by and by that the book we are reading about had 
to be eaten also. To see the meaning of this book, we 
will have to look at chapter 10 by anticipation. We 
see one who looks like our Lord. I take him to be the 
Lord. The description will not fit any one else. And 
he comes from heaven with a book in His hands. But 
the book is open. And He puts one foot on the land, 
and one foot on the sea. That is the Bible way of 
taking possession of things. And He cries with a loud 
voice as a lion roareth, that there shall be delay no 
longer. ''Time" is delay in the Revised Version. Here 
we have a book sealed and the cry is, "Who is worthy 
to open it?" In chapter 10, the book is open. I think 
we shall see in a moment what it is. 

The cry goes forth, "Who is worthy to open the 
book, and to loose the seals thereof ? And no man in 



8o 



STUDIES IN THE 



heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able 
to open the book, neither to look thereon/' No man, 
not even Gabriel, nor Michael, none of the angels, and 
not even the archangel, (I only read of one archangel 
in the Bible) was worthy to take the book or even to 
look upon it. 

John begins to weep. We have had this Bible in our 
hands for years, and I have never seen any one weep- 
ing over it yet. If we have not got to that experience, 
we have not come to John's experience yet. I do not 
say that book was the Bible. But we do not often find 
people weeping over the Bible. Here is John weeping. 
One of the elders said unto him, ''Weep not: behold, 
the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath 
prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals 
thereof." It is always Christ. In Genesis i it is the 
Christ of God ; in showing the way of redemption to 
Adam, it is the Christ of God ; in the coming kingdom 
it will be the Christ of God. There is no other. There 
is no one worthy but Him, the Lion of the tribe of 
Juda, the Root of David. Thou art worthy, O Lord. 

In the twenty-second of Revelation, sixteenth verse, 
you have this title of Christ. I think it is the last title 
of Christ in the Bible: ''I am the root and the off- 
spring of David, and the bright and morning star." 
You have the same two titles in Isaiah ii, verses i and 
lo, ''And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem 
of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." 
Verse lo, "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, 
which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to him 
shall the Gentiles seek : and his rest shall be glorious." 
He is the Root of David, He is the offspring of David. 
Our Lord, in other words, is God. Jesus Christ is God. 
He is David's Lord. He is the Root of David. He is 



BOOK OF REVELATION 8i 



the One from whom David came. He is David's Lord. 
On the other hand, He is also David's son, He is the 
offspring, the branch from David. He is the son of 
David, through Mary and by her marriage with Joseph 
the heir to David's throne. He is the Lion of the tribe 
of Judah. Our Lord did not come from Joseph's tribe, 
nor from the tribe of Benjamin or Levi, — our Lord 
sprang out of Juda. The Root of David hath pre- 
vailed. How did He prevail? The next verse, "And 
I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the 
four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, 
stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns 
and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent 
forth into all the earth." John is told to behold the 
Lion, and John looks and he beholds a Lamb. That is 
odd, is it not. A lion and a lamb the same person. The 
Lion of the tribe of Juda is the Lamb of God. And 
John says, I beheld a Lamb as it had been slain. The 
marks of death are on Him. That is a good thing to 
know, a very good thing for those in the days of the 
Anti-Christ. There is a man coming who will give it 
out , that he is Christ, that people must bow down to 
Him, and if they will not baw down to him they will 
have to die, as many have been dying in Armenia lately. 
If those who are living in those days are familiar with 
this book, they will know whether he is Christ or not. 
They shall say, ''Let me see your hand or side. There 
are no nail marks or spear marks there. You are not 
the Christ. Our Christ has the mark of the nails and 
of the spear." How shall I know Him? Zech. 13: 6, 
''And one shall say unto him. What are these wounds 
in thine hands? Then he shall answer. Those with 
which I was wounded in the house of my friends." 
He has the marks of death upon Him. He is One who 
6 



82 



STUDIES IN THE 



rose again, the coming King as the Lion of the tribe 
of Juda. That has somewhat to do with Juda. It does 
not concern us specially. He is to us our Saviour, the 
Great Head of the Church. So when you read of the 
Lion of the tribe of Juda you may know it has some- 
what to do with Israel. 

Just a word about the seven horns and seven eyes. 
The horns seven, all power: the eye, intelligence — 
seven horns, omnipotence, seven eyes, omniscience. 

''And he came and took the book out of the right 
hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he 
had taken the book, the four living creatures and four 
and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having 
every one of them harps, and golden vials full of 
odours, which are the prayers of saints.'' Hear the 
song which they sing, the creatures and the twenty-four 
elders. They sing the redemption song, the song of the 
priests and kings that shall reign with Christ on the 
earth, and they give glory to the Lamb because He is 
worthy to take the book. Then we read that every 
creature and the four living creatures said "Amen." 

Two verses we passed over, ''And I beheld, and I 
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne 
and the living creatures and the elders : and the num- 
ber of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and 
thousands of thousands." Some of us used to sing, 
"I want to be an angel." I hope we sing it no more. 
It would be a good thing to be an angel if we had noth- 
ing better. Notice this, "round about the throne and 
the living creatures and the elders" are the angels, out- 
side, in the outer circle, the throne in the midst, and the 
Lamb in the midst of the throne and the living crea- 
tures next, and outside of all the angels — nearest to 
God of all, the redeemed, shall we be by and by, parts 



BOOK OF REVELATION 83 



of Christ's body. And they said He was worthy to re- 
ceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
honor, and glory, and blessing. 

What is all this about anyhow ? What is this little 
book in the Prophecy of Jeremiah, in the thirty-second 
chapter? We read that Jeremiah, being in prison, had 
a voice come to him from God, as he supposed, that he 
should buy a piece of property. It was a poor time to 
buy property. The Assyrian army was despoiling the 
city, and Jeremiah was in prison, and yet it seemed to 
him as if God had told him to buy this piece of prop- 
erty in Anathoth in his native town. And this voice 
also told him, ''Your uncle's son will come to you to 
have you buy this property." Now Jeremiah was not 
one to do things in a hurry. Some people get an im- 
pression, and off they go. They say, "God told me." 
You had better go slowly. When you think you have 
a voice from God, wait. Test it by the word of God. 
God never speaks contrary to His word. When there 
is a voice which does not agree with the word of God, 
have nothing to do with it. Jeremiah was patient. He 
says, I will watch and see if that is so. Next day, I 
think it was, his uncle's son came and said, '1 want 
you to buy the field at Anathoth." So when Jeremiah 
put together the facts of the case, two and two make 
four, he knew it was the providence of God and the 
voice of God. He bought the property and paid the 
money. That is a good point,— he paid for it ; he did 
not buy it on trust. A lady told me, not long ago, that 
she could not bear to hear a certain man pray in prayer- 
meeting. She said he owed her husband some money. 
I asked her, ''Can he pay?" She said, "I do not know 
that hd can. He might say so any way. He might 
come and apologize and say he would pay it when he 



84 



STUDIES IN THE 



could; but the man is so independent about it, I can- 
not bear to hear him speak in prayer-meeting/' There 
is a disgrace. Let us not commit any slander on the 
name of the Lord by not paying our debts. Jeremiah 
bought the property and paid for it. He had two ar- 
ticles made out, one open and one sealed. Both were 
put in an earthen vessel for many days. You will find 
out all about this in the thirty-second chapter of Jere- 
miah, read it for yourself. 

I believe we have here two writings : Here's an open 
writing, the other's a sealed book. When we find out 
the contents of the sealed book, we will find there will 
be some agreement between that and this, we will find 
out what the sealed book is. Jeremiah's deeds were 
about a piece of property. If I understand this Book, 
the Bible, this sealed book is about a piece of property, 
it is about the homestead. Let us read a couple of 
verses in Ephesians i : 13 and 14, "Ye were sealed with 
that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our 
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased pos- 
session." When God created this earth. He gave it to 
Adam, placed Adam in control, gave him the title deeds, 
you might say, of the whole earth. The earth was 
Adam's in company with his wife. But very soon the 
property become mortgaged to the devil, and that mort- 
gage is of long standing, and still exists, for unto this 
day Satan is the god of this world and the prince of 
the power of the air. Do you think God is going to 
allow this world, this old homestead, to continue mort- 
gaged to Satan? The Lion of Judah is worthy to re- 
deem the world. He is worthy to cast out the usurper, 
He is worthy to place man in possession of his rightful 
property! He is worthy. He, the King of Israel, and 
He will do it. The Lamb, your Saviour and mine, He 



BOOK OF REVELATION 85 



will do it ! He is the only being in all the universe who 
is able to redeem this world and make it what it ought 
to be ! 

Hear the three groans, Romans 8 : 22 to 26, ''For we 
know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth 
in pain together until now. And not only they, but 
ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, 
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for 
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 
Verse 26, 'The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for 
us with groanings which cannot be uttered." "Not 
only they, but we ourselves groan within ourselves 
waiting for the adoption" and meantime, while we wait 
for the redemption, the Spirit in us is ofttimes heard 
groaning, for He too is waiting for the earth's redemp- 
tion. 

Just count up the murders and suicides you find in 
the papers from time to time, and the thing grows 
worse. Is there no end to this? Will there never 
come a time when these abominable things will stop? 
When the One takes possession. He has the authority. 
He has not taken the book yet. We will see Him take 
it. Won't it be a grand day! How we will join the 
song of the angels and the creatures ! What a song it 
will be ! 

Imagine a case. The place where you were born 
and grown up has fallen into the hands of other people, 
how up to the present time you are not able to redeem 
it. It is a trial to you. You say, "I cannot bear to see 
it in the hands of him who has it. He has no right to 
it either. He is holding it wrongfully." After a while 
you get legal possession of the old homestead. You 
are ready to cry, "Thank God, I have the property," 
and so with the proper papers, and armed with the 



86 



STUDIES IN THE 



proper authority you go to take possession of it which 
you have redeemed. It is a glad day for you. So no- 
tice in the tenth chapter of Revelation, our Lord com- 
ing from heaven with the proper papers. I believe 
this book is the title deeds of this earth, and when He, 
the Lion of the tribe of Juda roars, that other lion will 
tremble. The title deeds of the earth will be found in 
this book, I believe. He will redeem the purchased 
possession, and make it the place it ought to be, the 
earth with no more curse, no more sin, no stain. But 
He is waiting until the church is completed. Now 
friends, every soul that is won to Christ helps to com- 
plete the body of Christ, every missionary sent forth 
and all money spent in this direction will hasten the 
kingdom. 

In Boston a poor woman, not a rich woman cer- 
tainly, with an income of a thousand dollars a year, 
wanted to do something for missions. One day the 
minister found in his collection $800, and found out 
afterwards who it was from, and was told by her that 
when she thought of trying to help bring back her 
Lord, she found she could live on $200 a year and that 
she could give the rest to preach the gospel to the 
heathen. Unto God be the glory. May the Lord Jesus 
soon come and redeem the purchased possession. 

Let us pray : 

Our Father and our God, we do long for the good 
times that are coming. Thy word tells us that the time 
is coming when on this earth there shall be no devil 
and no sin, and no curse, but the earth shall be a new 
earth filled with righteousness ; though Thou hast told 
us that a storm shall come first, and by Thy servant 
Paul it is described in fearful language; but Thy 



BOOK OF REVELATION 87 



servant Peter hath said by the Spirit, '^Nevertheless we 
look for a new heaven and a new earth/' Awful days 
are coming, and those who bear the name of Christ 
and have the power to send out the gospel to the 
heathen are not doing it as they ought to do. Open 
our eyes, O Lord to see, and live to send the gospel to 
others, that thus we will bring the good days of Thy 
return. Help us to say this much at least, "Thou art 
worthy O Lord, and I am for Thy pleasure," for if we 
say that honestly from the heart. Thou wilt accomplish 
Thy purpose through us. 



Chapter 6. 



Our meditation for the afternoon is in Revelation, 
the sixth chapter. I will read two verses : "And I saw 
when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, 
as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living 
creatures saying, Come and see. And I saw, and be- 
hold a white horse : and he that sat on him had a bow ; 
and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth 
conquering, and to conquer." 

That is the opening of the first seal. The little book 
had seven seals. No one in heaven nor earth, nor 
under the earth, was worthy to open the book, neither 
to look upon it ; but one of the elders said, *'Weep not,'' 
as John wept, ''behold the Lion of the tribe of Juda, 
the Root of David hath prevailed to open the book and 
to loose the seven seals thereof." And John beheld in 
the midst of the throne a Lamb. 

The beginning and end of our Christian life is 
summed up in those five words, ''Behold the Lamb of 
God." It just fits nicely on your fingers. We are 
saved by beholding the Lamb of God ; the consumma- 
tion of our salvation will be by beholding the Lamb of 
God face to face. When we see Him we shall be like 
Him, blessed Lamb of God, adorable Lord Jesus 
Christ, our Saviour. There is nothing that can com- 
pare to the joy of knowing that we are accepted in 
Him, and that it is all settled for eternity, sin blotted 
out, eternal life our present possession, and a consum- 
mation in an immortal body when we shall see Him in 
the first resurrection. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 89 



The events in this book thus far have led us up to 
the first resurrection —not the completion of it, but up 
to that step of it when the church shall have been trans- 
lated, gone to meet our Lord in the air. In the first 
chapter, we have Christ in the midst of the churches. 
He is here this afternoon, for 'Vhere two or three 
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
midst." May His presence be to me and to you the 
greatest reality of this service. He is listening to every 
word we say, watching every thought of every heart. 
Chapters 2 and 3, His last message to the church, tell 
what He loves and what He does not love, and how we 
should live while we stay here, and how we may be 
overcomers. Chapters 4 and 5, the church translated, 
—all the saints, it may be the Old Testament saints, 
represented by the elders, and the church by the Cheru- 
bim. At any rate, the song which they sing proves to 
us that they are the redeemed of all nations up to that 
time. 

And now what? The church being translated, goes 
to meet her Lord in the air, there to appear before the 
judgment seat of Christ, to receive rewards for serv- 
ice, and to have our places appointed in the kingdom,— 
the elect company out of all nations go to meet the Lord 
in the air. 

What will then happen on the earth? The first and 
second verses of this chapter begin to tell the story. 
From the sixth to the eighteenth chapters inclusive, we 
have the story of the wonderful things on the earth, of 
some things in heaven also. When we get along as far 
as chapter' 19, we will see then the marriage of the 
Lamb and the return from the marriage to judge the 
living nations and establish the kingdom on the earth. 

A question is before me which I will not take the 



90 



STUDIES IN THE 



time to answer to-day. It will be answered in due time 
as we journey on. We cannot gain all knowledge in an 
hour. It requires a good deal of study, a good deal of 
patience to get light upon some of these things. Let 
us be patient. When we think we know something 
about these matters, let us always remember that we 
know nothing yet as we ought to know. Then we will 
know. We only know in part. But when we find a 
Scripture statement, let us hold it even although we 
cannot see its place in relation to other Scripture places. 

What shall happen, then, after the church goes to 
meet the Lord? Does that wind up everything? By 
no means. We see the Lamb take the book. That cer- 
tainly is a heavenly scene, up in heaven, the Lamb 
takes the book, and He begins to open the seals, and 
when He opens the first seal, John hears one of the 
living creatures, one of the redeemed saying with a 
voice like thunder. Come. Not come and see, — the Re- 
vised Version is more correct, the proper translation is 
just Come! One of the living creatures cries with a 
voice like thunder. Come, — which is the voice of the 
Lord through one of the living creatures, because the 
voice of the Lord is compared to thunder. Job 37 : 5, 
''God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great 
things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend." 
Thunder is called the voice of God. When He spoke 
to the people at Mount Sinai they trembled. They 
could not bear to hear the voice of God. They said to 
Moses, ''You speak to us." If the people of God trem- 
bled at His voice what will the unsaved do when God 
speaks in His wrath ? As we read in the fiftieth Psalm, 
God is saying to us, "You think I am as you are, be- 
cause I do not take swift vengeance on sin. You do as 
you please, and I do not seem to take notice of it." But 



BOOK OF REVELATION 91 



He said in that Psalm, '1 will speak ; I will not keep 
silence." It is well to remember this, that although 
God seems to be passing over iniquity to-day. He is 
noticing it all the time, and the time will come when He 
will speak. 

As He breaks the first seal, one of the living crea- 
tures cries, Come, and a white horse comes forth, and 
there is one on the white horse, and He had a bow and 
He comes forth conquering and to conquer. There are 
a good many stories of horses in the Bible. We have 
already referred to the story of Elijah, how Elisha 
saw the horses and chariots of fire all round about the 
mountain. What are they suggestive of? Are they 
anywhere explained? The prophet Zechariah had on 
one night a series of seven or eight visions, and they 
begin with a vision of horses and end with a vision of 
horses. We will turn just a moment to Zechariah and 
see the suggestion of the horsemen and horses. The 
Prophecy of Zechariah, first chapter, from the eighth 
verse : '1 saw by night, and behold a man riding upon 
a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that 
were in the bottom ; and behind him were there red 
horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, 
what are these? And the angel that talked with me 
said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the 
man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and 
said. These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk 
to and fro through the earth." Horses and their riders 
are God's messengers going to and fro through the 
earth. Chapter 6 : 5 of Zechariah, ''And the angel an- 
swered and said unto me. These are the four spirits of 
the heavens, which go forth from standing before the 
Lord of all the earth." This is the explanation. God 
has His swift messengers, riders on horses. Such is 



92 



STUDIES IN THE 



the description. We take it as we find it, and believe 
that these are God's messengers doing His will in the 
earth. 

What about this white horse? White suggests pur- 
ity, the bow suggests victory, conquering and to con- 
quer. Is this the Christ, or the Anti-Christ? Is this a 
victory for Christ or against Christ? We read of a 
white horse in Rev. 19. We have there the Son of God 
coming from heaven upon a white horse. Some of us 
have been memorizing that chapter lately. If this is 
the Son of God on the white horse in Rev. 19, might it 
not also be the same one here, coming forth personally, 
or by His Spirit conquering and to conquer ? 

''And he had a bow." In the third chapter of Ha- 
bakkuk, verses 8 and 9, there you will see what the bow 
signifies, the Word. I wish I knew where to look in 
the Bible for the explanation of every figure. I think 
nearly every figure is explained in the Scriptures ; and 
the great thing for a Bible student is to be able to turn 
and see what God has said. I think I called your at- 
tention to that very frequently. If we would under- 
stand the Scriptures, we must depend upon the Spirit 
to open them to us. In Habakkuk the bow is the word, 
and that makes me believe that this is a victory for 
Christ. 

Try and imagine a case. Imagine that to-day the 
Lord comes to the air, and all the saved people on the 
earth are gone. Who are left? All the unsaved. Do 
any of them know about Christ? Millions of them. 
They have heard the story, they know the way. They 
have been putting it off. They hoped some day to be 
saved. The church is gone. A wife is gone, a hus- 
band, a brother, a sister, a father, a mother, other mem- 
bers of the family left. Perhaps a good many min- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 93 



isters will be left, probably some elders, deacons and 
Sunday school superintendents. We can hardly be- 
lieve that every such one is really saved. Every day 
we have the testimony of men who preached for years 
before they were converted. Should the Lord come, 
all the saved would go to meet Him. Then what? 
Then many who are left and who knew the way of sal- 
vation but have not accepted Christ, will be converted. 
There will be such a turning to God as the world never 
saw. And what then? Will they be saved? "Him 
that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out." ''Well, 
if I thought my going to meet the Lord would be the 
means of the salvation of my husband, I wish the Lord 
would come and take me." I think I hear some one 
saying that. How many of you were led to decide for 
Christ by the death of some friend? I would raise my 
hand, for one, and say, ''Here's one." As a young man, 
a clerk in a store I was awakened to the fact that God 
was calling me very loudly by the sudden death of my 
employer's daughter in a railroad accident. I had been 
waiting on her the day before she started for the jour- 
ney. That startled me. I knew the way of salvation. 
I had intended to become a Christian some time ; and a 
voice said to me, "Now, now." And with a number of 
friends, we yielded ourselves to Christ. How many 
have been led to take this stand by the departure of 
some friend to glory. Well then, cannot you imagine 
after the church was taken out of the earth, there 
would be on the face of the earth the greatest revival 
the earth ever saw? Would they be part of the 
church? No. We will read of that when we come to 
the next chapter. Will you just bear with me to stop 
on this point until next week. We will read about them 
in the latter part of the seventh chapter. 



94 



STUDIES IN THE 



We will read the story of the second seal. "And 
when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second 
living creature say, Come ! And there went out another 
horse that was red : and power was given to him that 
sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they 
should kill one another : and there was given unto him 
a great sword." The second seal being broken, the cry 
is, Come, and the red horse goes forth. ''Wherefore 
art thou red in thine apparel ?" Isaiah 63. Some think 
that in Isaiah 63 the Lord is seen in garments which 
are red in His own blood. O no, not so. He says, "I 
have trodden the winepress alone." It is the blood of 
His enemies that stains His raiment. War will speed- 
ily follow the opening of the second seal. People who 
say the days of war are over, are deceiving themselves. 
They say the weapons of destruction are too fearful. 
That is true, but there will be wars ; the worst wars 
the earth has ever known shall come, we have reason 
to believe, after the people of the church are gone. A 
moment ago, you were glad perhaps that there will be 
hope for those who are left on the earth, but if they 
are to live and go through these blood-shedding days, 
it is not so attractive. Do come now in the days of 
grace, so you will meet the Lord in the air and be out 
of all the tribulation! But we are glad there is re- 
demption for those who will be left when the church 
is taken. Some of you will find trouble here. You are 
thinking possibly, of the coming of Christ with His 
saints, 2 Thes. i, and of the destruction of the un- 
godly at the second coming of Christ. I am speaking 
to-day of the coming of Christ to the air, and the de- 
parture of the church to meet Him in the air. Let us 
wait until we get along further for that. ''Redemption 
after they are gone?" some one says, "I can hardly 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



95 



believe that, because when the church goes, the Holy 
Spirit goes/' Not so fast, friend. Was not the Holy 
Spirit on the earth in the Old Testament days, from 
the creation down? He came at Pentecost for a par- 
ticular purpose, and when the church is taken, the 
Spirit, as the Gatherer of the church, in that capacity, 
will be gone, but the greatest outpouring of the Spirit 
shall be known when He comes in His glory. There 
are two stages in His coming. We are talking of the 
events between our going to meet Him. and His coming 
to the earth. The second seal, the red horse, — there 
will be war. 

The third seal, verse 5 : ''And when he had opened 
the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, 
Come! And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he 
that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts (or 
living creatures) say, A measure of wheat for a penny, 
and three measures of barley for a penny; and see 
thou hurt not the oil and the wine." The opening of 
the third seal is explained right here, just as the second 
was explained. The red horse is explained as a symbol 
of war, peace is taken from the earth, — the black horse 
suggests famine. Does not famine follow war? Make 
a note of i Sam. 5 : 10 and Jer. 14 : i and 2, and see the 
connection between black and famine. 

Verse 7 : And when he had opened the fourth seal, 
I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say. 
Come ! And I looked, and behold a pale horse : and 
his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed 
with him. And power was given unto them over the 
fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and 
with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of 
the earth." 



96 



STUDIES IN THE 



The opening of the first seal brings victory, — -rela- 
tives are saved. 

The opening of the second seal brings war. 

The third brings famine, and the fourth brings death 
and hades. Death takes the bodies of the killed and 
hades receives the spirit. The word ^'Hell" is used in 
the New Testament twenty-four or twenty-five times. 
If you have the revised version you will see that one- 
half the number of times it is Gehenna, the place of 
fire, in the other half, the place of departed spirits. 
Between death and resurrection the spirits of the right- 
eous are with Christ. They are happy. The spirits of 
the lost are somewhere waiting, not in the lake of fire. 
They are waiting for that. They are in torment. 
Hades, described as the place of departed spirits be- 
tween death and resurrection. They are not together. 
The righteous are with Christ, they are happy. Death 
and Hades are to be conquered, and they will be. 

Will it not be a fearful time of tribulation? Multi- 
tudes saved, but they will probably have to die for their 
faith. 

Let us listen to the fifth seal: "And when he had 
opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of 
them that were slain for the word of God, and for the 
testimony which they held : And they cried with a loud 
voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost 
thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that 
dwell on the earth ? And white robes were given unto 
every one of them; and it was said unto them, that 
they should rest yet for a little season, until their fel- 
low servants also and their brethren, that should be 
killed as they were, should be fulfilled." 

When Moses built the Tabernacle, he was told to 
make it according to the pattern which God showed 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



97 



him in the mount, and the Tabernacle of Moses was a 
simiHtude of heavenly things. And so with the Tem- 
ple. David received the instructions for building the 
Temple in the same way, from God Himself. David 
tells us that he had the whole plan from the Spirit of 
God upon him. (i Chron. 28: 12.) There is some- 
thing in heaven we shall understand some day, — an 
altar. In the Tabernacle there were two altars : the 
altar of sacrifice and the golden altar where incense 
was offered. We will read of the golden altar when 
we come to the eighth chapter. There is no safety, no 
salvation, apart from the death of the substitute. The 
story of the coats of skins that clothed Adam and Eve, 
Gen. 3:21, makes as plain as can be made, the plan of 
redemption. Except through the shedding of blood 
there is no remission of sins. The blood of the Lord 
Jesus Christ has been shed. Whoever will accept Him 
is saved. Whoever rejects the blood and continues to 
reject it, can not be saved; and that will give a little 
light upon a verse that puzzles some people. Heb. 10: 
26 and 27 : ''For if we sin wilfully after that we have 
received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth 
no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking 
for of judgment and fiery indignation." 

"If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowl- 
edge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for 
sins," does not that mean that if a man sin after he 
becomes a Christian, there is no redemption for him? 
There is no such statement in Scripture. To receive 
the knowledge of the truth is not equal to receiving 
Christ. There may be some here who have the knowl- 
edge of the truth, — you know how to be saved. That 
does not save you. Having the knowledge of the truth, 
the next thing is to accept Him. He is The Truth, and 
7 



98 STUDIES IN THE 



if people have the knowledge of the truth and will not 
accept Him, if they wilfully continue in sinning, after 
knowing the way, there is no other way. After having 
the knowledge of the truth, if we rebel against God and 
will not have the salvation prepared, there is no other 
way. But those who are saved, are saved. Listen to 
this verse of John, (i John 2 : 19) ''they went out from 
us, but they were not of us ; for if they had been of us, 
they would no doubt have continued with us : but they 
went out, that they might be made manifest that they 
were not all of us." 

Under the altar then, are the souls of them who had 
been slain. These are some of the people that were 
saved after the church was taken. They died for their 
faith. We talk about martyrdom, and the martyrs in 
Armenia. That is nothing to what is coming. There 
will be martyrs by the million, they will have to die for 
their faith, and they will, a great many of them. But 
where are they seen ? 

They are seen in heaven under the shedding of the 
blood,— that is the meaning of the altar. Notice one 
or two things. Some people have an idea that when 
we die there is no more to us until the resurrection. I 
meet a good many people, real nice people, who think 
that the soul sleeps. One of my best friends believes 
that. That does not break our friendship at all. I 
used to say to my friend, 'If the Lord will let you sleep 
when you die, I hope you will sleep soundly. I don't 
expect to." We get along agreeably together. This is 
one of the proofs that the dead do not sleep. The body 
sleeps, not the soul. Look at these souls. They were 
slain, and they were talking. You do not talk when 
you are dead. Look at them ! Souls beneath the altar, 
and they cried with a loud voice ! They are in good 



BOOK OF REVELATION 99 



health ! Their murderers were still on the earth, the 
people who killed them were still on the earth. And 
they cry, ''How long !" ''And white robes were given 
unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, 
that they should rest yet for a little season, until their 
fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be 
killed as they were, should be fulfilled/' 

Even at this time, at the opening of the fifth seal, the 
martyrs are not all there, and they are told to rest while 
there are some people to be killed as they were. Is not 
this an awful thing, people being killed for Jesus' sake? 
Our Lord did not think so. Mat. 10 : 28, "Fear not 
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the 
soul : but rather fear him which is able to destroy both 
soul and body in hell." He said to His apostles, "Fear 
not." The plain teaching of our Lord is "Do not be 
afraid to die." The death of the body is not a serious 
affair. The death of the body sets the soul free to be 
with Christ. But the death of the soul is an awful 
thing. Fear the second death. It has been said if we 
are born but once, a natural birth only, we will die 
twice, the second death will be in the lake of fire. If 
we are born twice, the natural birth, and born of the 
Spirit, we will die but once if at all. The fifth seal 
shows us the martyrs, not all the martyrs slain up to 
this time. These are the martyrs of the tribulation, 
but not all of them; more were to be slain as they 
were. 

The opening of the sixth seal. "And I beheld when 
he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great 
earthquake ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of 
hair, and the moon became as blood ; And the stars of 
heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her 
untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." 



lOO 



STUDIES IN THE 



Would you read parallel passages, read Isaiah 13:9 
to 13; Isaiah 34: i to 8. Let us turn to one in Mat- 
thew. He speaks of this very time, Mat. 24 : 29 : "Im- 
mediately after the tribulation of those days shall the 
sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of 
the heavens shall be shaken." Dean Alford says, con- 
cerning these things, ''Such prophecies are to be un- 
derstood literally, otherwise they lose their truth and 
significance. The physical signs shall happen as ac- 
companiments and intensifications of the awful state 
of things which the description typifies." 

The sun darkened and the moon not giving her light, 
and so on, and then shall appear the Son of Man in the 
heaven. That is not the worst of it, but as we will see 
when we come to the ninth, eleventh and thirteenth 
chapters this tribulation period grows and grows most 
fearful in intensity. ''The heaven departed as a scroll 
when it is rolled together; and every mountain and 
island were moved out of their places. And the kings 
of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and 
the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every 
bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the 
dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to 
the mountains and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from 
the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the 
wrath of the Lamb : For the great day of his wrath is 
come ; and who shall be able to stand ?" They are not 
afraid of an earthquake. They wish there was an 
earthquake. They wish to be called out of existence. 
I think the prophet in the sixth seal looks on to the con- 
summation. I believe we have here in the sixth seal 
the summing up of the whole of this tribulation unto 
the last step, until Christ shall come in His glory. You 



BOOK OF REVELATION loi 



never saw a prayer-meeting like this. Here's a prayer- 
meeting in which they all take part. They cry aloud. 
They are not praying to God. They are praying to the 
rocks and mountains to fall on them, for the great day 
of the wrath of God is come. There is such a thing as 
the wrath of God. If we persist upon turning our 
backs on the Lord. 

May the Lord deliver us and lead us now. 

While there is time, may we enter into the Rock, 
Christ Jesus, and be saved from the wrath of God. 

Let us pray : 

Our Father and our God, we thank Thee that 
whilst Thou hast told us of the wrath of the Lamb, 
Thou hast also told us of the love of the Lamb ; and 
Thou art entreating us this very day to behold the 
Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. 
Oh the sin of those who reject Thee. We thank Thee 
for everyone present who has beheld the Lamb. May 
we go on beholding the Lamb until we become more 
like Him,— meek and lowly and gentle. May the Lord 
fill us with His Spirit that we may be more lamblike, 
not beastlike in our characters. Awaken us. Give us 
an intense zeal in this matter, that the Gospel may be 
preached to the heathen. Lord, guide us in this mat- 
ter, lead us to see Jesus and live unto Him, and give 
Him, who is worthy of all our heart's love, all our time, 
and all we have. May we hear that voice saying to us, 
O so plaintively, 'Wilt thou not from this time cry 
unto me. My Father?'' 



Chapter 7. 



Just a word as to progress in missions since we met 
last. The story I told you of the bereaved mother who 
invested two dollars, is growing in interest. I reported 
progress in New York last Monday, trusting the 
mother would be present, and she was present. I re- 
ported at that time that the two dollars had grown to 
forty dollars. She wrote me since that when I stated 
I was led to send the money to the Rev. Andrew Mur- 
ray in South Africa, she could not but praise God, for 
she had attended all his meetings in New York, and 
had intended to call her boy Andrew Murray. When 
I received her letter the amount had grown to $65, and 
it has grown since to over $70 or $75. And I never 
ask anyone. I just tell people, and somehow the Lord 
takes hold of their hearts, and that is the way it goes. 
The eighty dollars received from the lady for a mis- 
sionary to the Jews, has grown to over $300. 

Now as to our lesson for to-day, we turn to the 
seventh chapter of Revelation, and again I ask you to 
be patient and prayerful, and not conclude that you 
know everything, until we get through the book; and 
then you will not know everything by a good deal. So 
we will go on prayerfully reading and meditating and 
trusting the Lord will enlighten us as we go. 

Another glance at the outline of the book. The first 
chapter: Christ in the midst of the churches. And 
that is the greatest reality in life. I do not know any- 
thing like it. His presence is in this room this after- 
noon. O that it may be the greatest reality to us. God 

102 



BOOK OF REVELATION 103 



says, '1 am with you." He says to us as He said to 
Abraham, "I am God Almighty," El Shaddai, the 
Mighty One who is sufficient for you. ''Walk before 
me and be thou upright." If we walk uprightly we 
will see His power. 

The second and third chapters, His last message to 
the church. 

The fourth and fifth chapters, the church translated, 
the church gone. 

I have been interested within the past few days to 
notice that a friend of mine, who is interested in Hf e in- 
surance, has begun to think that possibly there might 
be some difficulty, if the church is translated, because 
those people who are not translated cannot prove their 
friends have died. Their friends have gone, and we 
will suppose there is a portion of the companies left on 
the earth, and there will be people left whose friends 
are insured, so he thinks of putting a new clause into 
policies. 

I do not know whether that will interest you or not. 
If it does, you might communicate with my friend, Mr. 
Ramsey, 641 Drexel Building. He evidently believes 
there is something in this business of being caught up. 
Well, the Lord directs us to live as though we believed 
these things. Whatever is written here is true, and we 
had better conform our lives to the truth in every par- 
ticular. 

Chapter six, which we had last week, tells us of the 
events which will take place when the church is trans- 
lated. That was the opening of the six seals. The 
great matter of interest in the fifth chapter is the little 
book that is sealed with seven seals, and no one was 
found worthy to open it but the Lamb. "Worthy is the 
Lamb." I trust we will learn to say that very, very 



I04 



STUDIES IN THE 



often. I confess to you I live on that. We often get 
discouraged. The devil does come to us and says, 
"You are not worthy.'' True enough, we are not 
worthy; but if you just cry ovit, *'Thou art worthy, O 
Lord," you will see the Lamb of God, and trusting in 
Him, it will lift you away out of yourself. 

He takes the book and begins to break the seals. If 
we understood them correctly, when the first seal is 
broken, there is a great victory accomplished, great 
things on the line of victory, and we know that that 
victory will be the conversion of multitudes of people. 
There will be a great awakening on the earth, follow- 
ing the translation of the church. Then comes war, — 
the red horse; and famine, — the black horse; and 
death, — ^the pale horse ; and then we saw the souls of 
them who had been slain safe in heaven, conscious, 
happy and waiting; and they were told to rest until 
their servants and brethren were slain as they were. 
For it will be a time of fearful martyrdom. 

In the sixth seal, I think we have, as I said, a sum- 
mary of the whole matter of judgment up to the nine- 
teenth chapter. Of ttimes we have in Scripture a state- 
ment, a summary, that is more fully opened up in fol- 
lowing statements or chapters. 

One other word. While we are starting this book 
of Revelation on the line of what is known as the Fu- 
turist Interpretation, that is, that chapters 6 to i8 have 
all to be fulfilled in the future, that does not conflict 
with what many people think. There is a historic de- 
velopment throughout the ages, and possibly there has 
been in past centuries some events which seem to cor- 
respond with the breaking of these seals. But inas- 
much as I have derived help only from the Futurist 
Interpretation, I will confine myself to that. What I 



BOOK OF REVELATION 105 



have given you is the best I have, that is, up to date. 
This interpretation to me is the most simple, the most 
clear. It seems to be perfectly in line with the whole 
Bible that the events from chapters 6 to 18 should 
cover the period of the great tribulation, of which we 
read more fully in this seventh chapter, that this period 
should be after the church is translated. 
The chapter begins with these words : 
''And after these things I saw four angels standing 
on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds 
of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the 
earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree." 

The four corners of the earth is surely a figure. We 
understand that. Round things have not literal cor- 
ners; but it is suggestive! of the whole world. We 
found that angels are God's messengers. We also no- 
tice that the angels, or God through the angels, con- 
trols even the winds. We do not always think that 
God has control of the winds. But even the wind does 
not blow without God's permission. ''Stormy wind 
fulfilling his word." Psalm 148 : 8. 

If you care to look up the story of the wind in Scrip- 
ture, you will find some such pictures as these : 

In the eighth of Genesis, the wind was used of God 
to help assuage the flood. In Exodus 10, the East 
wind brought the locusts and the west wind took them 
all away. And we read in Exodus 14 that by the aid of 
the wind, God divided the Red Sea. And you will 
find in the story of Jonah, the wind was one of the de- 
tectives sent after Jonah to bring him ashore. If a 
man gets away from New York on a steamer, what is 
the best they can do? They have to wait until he gets 
to Liverpool. God did better than that. Jonah got off 
to sea ; but God sent two detectives after him to send 



io6 STUDIES IN THE 



him ashore : the wind to stop the ship and the fish to 
bring him ashore. This is a true story. The Lord 
Jesus Christ endorsed it. We are not so far on as we 
think we are. God controls the wind and the fishes of 
the sea. Still God did not control the wind that took 
down Job's house. The devil had a hand in that. But 
it was by God's permission. Do not ask me too hard 
questions. Some day we will find out why God per- 
mitted the devil anyhow. It is a great mystery. Some- 
time there will be no devil on the earth any more. 
Some day we shall know how such a creature came to 
have anything to do with the earth. 

Concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, it is written, 
"The wind and the sea obey Him." He was sleeping 
peacefully in the storm on that sea, and they awake 
Him. He stands up in the boat and says, ''Be still," 
and the waves of the sea become calm, for He is the 
Lord of all. All nature obeys Him. Man only is dis- 
obedient. And when we become obedient, we begin to 
know something of heaven on earth. Oh to be in full 
harmony with Him who has control over the whole 
world, and who can calm the winds and the sea. 

Verse 2: ''And I saw another angel ascending from 
the East, having the seal of the living God: and he 
cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom, it 
was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt 
not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have 
sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." 
There is a sealing going on of the servants of God, and 
the angels who have the power over the judgments are 
told to stop. They are commanded : Do nothing until 
the servants of God are sealed. It makes us think of 
the story of the deluge. The deluge did not come until 
the servants of God were safe in the ark. It makes us 



BOOK OF REVELATION 107 



think also of the story of Lot. The angel said to Lot, 
"Escape, for we can do nothing until you go away 
from here/' So the fire did not fall on Sodom and 
Gomorrah until Lot and his family were safe out of it. 
It makes us think of the story of Rahab in the story of 
Jericho. Because she trusted in God, she and her 
family were brought out of Jericho before the people 
were slain. And the parallel of that, I believe, is that 
the judgments cannot come on this earth until the 
whole church is taken away. The church must be 
taken away before the judgments can come. And then 
when the church is taken away, there will be a lot of 
people, Israelites, and Gentiles, who will be on the 
earth in those days, and because they will be trusting 
in God, they will be sealed and brought safely through 
the judgments of that time; and the angels are told to 
stop until this company is sealed. 

'Let us take a story from Ezekiel 9. Here is a par- 
allel story in some respects. In the days of Ezekiel the 
people were desperately wicked, and God was judging 
them ; but there were some, there is always a remnant, 
who were in sympathy with God. Chapter 8:16, "And 
he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, 
and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, be- 
tween the porch and the altar, were about five and 
twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the 
Lord, and their faces toward the East: and they 
worshipped the sun toward the East." God finds fault 
with that sort of thing. People tell us the proper posi- 
tion to worship is towards the East. There is no 
proper position, so far as North, South, East and West 
are concerned, in worshipping God. We should wor- 
ship God in the Spirit, and worshipping God in the 
Spirit, it matters not which way you face, which way 



io8 



STUDIES IN THE 



you look, or which way you turn. If people insist 
upon forms and say we must worship towards the 
East, say *'No/' God abominates such things. Then 
in the ninth chapter of Ezekiel, verse 4, before the 
destruction takes place the men who sighed and cried 
because of the abominations were sealed in their fore- 
heads, and were saved in the time of the destruction. 
We cannot do much sometimes, our hands seem to be 
tied ; but if our hearts are going out to God, if there is 
an honest groaning, and God sees you would do some- 
thing if you could, God gives you credit for what you 
would do if you could. If you should say to yourself, 
''I would give $10,000 to missions to-morrow, if I had 
it," God knows whether you would or not. It makes 
no difference if you have not the money, if He sees you 
would do it if you had it. He will give you credit for it. 
In the midst of sin we cannot help, if God sees an 
honest heartfelt cry. He will put His mark upon us, be- 
cause of our sympathy with Him. No evil can possibly 
befall any child of God. ''There shall no evil befall 
thee.'' Affliction may come, loss of property, or of 
friends may come, death may overtake you ; but in the 
resurrection morning you will find God's word is true, 
and that no real evil has ever befallen any child of God. 
For we are God's sealed ones, sealed unto the day of 
redemption. 

If you will read the following verses, which I will 
not take the time now to read, you will see there are 
one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of all 
of the tribes of Israel. Surely that is simple, dear 
friends. These were sealed out of the twelve tribes of 
Israel. Whom does the Spirit say they are? The 
Spirit says they are 144,000 out of the twelve tribes 
of Israel. Doesn't that settle it? Some would say, ''1 



BOOK OF REVELATION 109 



think they are the church." That is where you get 
astray, thinking the Bible means anything else but 
what it says. One of the greatest delusions that was 
ever put on the Church of God, is this, that Israel and 
the church are the same thing. It makes our Bible a 
meaningless jumble. Israel never means the church, 
and we have no authority to call the church Israel, none 
whatever. As Mr. Wilkinson says, ''If you want a 
baked potato, you must get a raw one to start with; 
and if you want a spiritual Israelite, you must have a 
natural one to begin with." The church is the members 
of the body of Christ, and not a part of Israel through- 
out the Scriptures, and when you beHeve this, your 
Bible will be a simple book to you. Israel means Is- 
rael. The church means the church. 

Paul in I Cor. 10 : 32 speaks of the threefold divi- 
sion, the Jew and the Gentile, and the church of God, 
for while not all Israelites are Jews, yet taking the 
word generally, Israel covers the twelve tribes. The 
Jews only cover the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. 
Not all Israelites are Jews, but all Jews are Israelites. 
Here then are one hundred and forty-four thousand 
of the twelve tribes of Israel who are sealed, being the 
first fruits unto God in those days of tribulation. For 
when the church has been taken away then God will 
begin once more to deal with Israel. A great many of 
these events have special reference to that people Is- 
rael, that wonderful nation, that nation called out of 
all other nations. While the past of Israel has been 
wonderful, and the present sad in the extreme, the fu- 
ture of Israel is to be unspeakably glorious, being a na- 
tion to have such a future when once they are restored 
to their own land and converted. Some people do not 



no 



STUDIES IN THE 



believe that. It is in your Bible just as plainly as ''He 
that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life." 

One interesting item in the lesson is that two of the 
tribes are not mentioned, for you find all the tribes 
mentioned but the tribes of Ephraim and Dan. The 
twelve are made up by mentioning Levi and Joseph. 
No doubt there is a reason. I like that verse in Ezek. 
14:23, ''Ye shall know that I have not done without 
cause all that I have done, saith the Lord God." So 
there is reason why the tribe of Dan and the tribe of 
Ephraim are not mentioned in this list. I have no clear 
light upon it, and therefore nothing more to give you 
to-day. If you will take your Concordance and look 
up the meaning of the names of the tribes it will be 
very profitable. Each name has a meaning that putting 
them altogether gives a complete story and description 
of the people at that time. 

We pass on then from this story of Israel, one hun- 
dred and forty-four thousand of the tribes of Israel 
who will be sealed and kept in the tribulations to come, 
and we come to the next section. Verse 9 : "After this 
I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man 
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 
and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the 
Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their 
hands." Here, I believe, is the multitude who are 
saved as the first seal is broken. The church being 
taken away, there is a wonderful revival, conversions 
everywhere on the earth where the Gospel has ever 
been preached, and multitudes out of all nations, and 
kindreds, and people and tongues are converted. The 
church has been gone, and they are living in the days 
when it is as much as their lives are worth to confess 
their belief in Christ; and like a few in Armenia to- 



BOOK OF REVELATION iii 



day, comparatively few, they will have to lay down 
their lives for Christ's sake. Redeemed people they 
are, out of every kindred and tongue and people and 
nation. 

One of the elders says, "Who are these?" Some of 
us would have ventured an answer. Notice John does 
not answer. Some of us would no doubt have said, ''I 
think they came from this place." You know even 
teachers in the Sunday school when their scholars ask 
a difficult question, not wanting to say they do not 
know, try to say something. If you do not know, say 
so. When the elder asked this, John said, I do not 
know. You know. '*Thou knowest," he said. And he 
said to him, "These are they which came out of (the 
Revised Version says 'the great tribulation') and have 
washed their robes and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb." I want you to notice this, friends, here 
is a separate company from the company in the fifth 
chapter, because you find in the eleventh verse of the 
fifth chapter that the angels and the four and twenty 
elders and the living creatures are all there in addition 
to this great multitude who have come out of the great 
tribulation. It is true that all through this life we have 
more or less tribulation, for if we stand with God, 
whole-heartedly with God, we must stand against the 
age in which we live. If we are not found against the 
age in which we live, we are not walking with God. 
To this day the world is against God. We cannot be 
the friends of the world and the friends of God. To 
this day the carnal mind, the natural man is against 
God. We cannot be on the side of self and on the side 
of God. And to this day there are a great many things 
in the church that are against God; and if we will 
stand with God and with His Christ, we will find 



112 STUDIES IN THE 

enough tribulation to make it uncomfortable for us, at 
least to let us know we are on the road. If we have no 
tribulation, it is a question whether we are walking 
with God or not. *'In the world," says Christ, "ye shall 
have tribulation.'" The question for us is do we find 
ourselves, because of the things we believe in Scrip- 
ture, coming in conflict with the age in which we live ? 
For example, am I talking to anyone who really has in 
his or her heart a great longing for a hoHer life? You 
are rejoicing that you are saved, rejoicing in Christ as 
the Deliverer. He will deliver from many things be- 
side sins. Rejoice ! And there are those in your home 
who cannot sympathize with you. Somebody who 
thinks you are away off the track. They think you are 
too good to live any more. What's the use of being so 
good down here on the earth? They are just thinking 
to-day you are a bore to them, and wishing you were a 
thousand miles away. If you have that in your own 
homes, that is just a little taste of the tribulation of 
those who will be out and out for God. Walk with the 
world, be an ordinary kind of a Christian, and go to 
the theatre and the dance, and nobody will trouble you 
very much. They do not think much of your Chris- 
tianity, they do not think much of your religion, but 
they will think you a nice kind of person. The devil 
hates those who walk with Christ. But these are but 
the faintest shadow of the tribulations that are coming. 

Notice further. You see the living creatures in the 
midst of the throne. They have a different position 
from the tribulation saints. If you believe now in 
Christ, your position in the kingdom is with Christ on 
His throne. They are not on the throne, they are be- 
fore the throne. They serve Him day and night in His 
temple. That is not reigning with Him. But you are 



BOOK OF REVELATION 113 



to reign with Christ. Chapter 5, verse 10. This com- 
pany out of the great tribulation, while they are saved, 
they are not on the throne, as you will be, but they are 
serving Him day and night. They never tire of serv- 
ing Him. 

This company knew what hunger was. What do we 
know about hunger? Am I talking to any who have 
really known the pangs of hunger? These people of 
whom we are reading, when on the earth knew what 
hunger was, knew what thirst was, they knew what 
death was for Christ's sake. ''They shall hunger no 
more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun 
light on them, nor any heat." Such words have no 
meaning to us, not the meaning it will have to them. 
''They shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the 
heat nor sun smite them." Isaiah 49 : 10. You see 
how these are spoken of away back in the Old Testa- 
ment. 

Notice this, while we have here in this chapter the 
record of the one hundred and forty-four thousand of 
the tribes of Israel saved from the great tribulation, 
they are all saved by the blood of the Lamb. There is 
only one way of salvation, whether it be for people 
here, the antediluvians, the priests or prophets, only 
one Saviour, only one salvation and this by the blood 
of the Lamb. Rev. i : 5, "Unto him that loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his own blood." Rev. 5 : 
9, "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy 
to take the book, and to open the seals thereof : for 
thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy 
blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
and nation." How do this great multitude get where 
they are? By being redeemed by the blood of the 
Lamb. Friends, have you an ever-increasing desire to 
8 



114 STUDIES IN THE 



make known to others a Saviour who will save to the 
uttermost all who will come unto Him ? Let me make 
a confession. I rejoice, not because of what God has 
been doing through me the last twenty years, but I 
rejoice that I am saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. That is my only ground of salvation. I accept 
Him as my Saviour and take His word for it that I 
am not cast out. Are you all saved? If you are, 
blessed be God. If death should overtake you, it will 
be bliss for you. If you are not saved you should not 
rest until you are saved, or you will not have that ever- 
lasting peace, you cannot find anywhere peace. If you 
are saved, have you a heart to feel for the hundreds of 
millions who have not heard the story? If so, say, 
''Use me Lord, to make Thee known throughout the 
world, so far as you can use me, for Thou art still re- 
ceiving sinners, and using them." 

Let us pray: 

Our Father and our God, we thank Thee for the 
revelation of Thy wondrous purposes concerning this 
earth. We thank Thee, our Father, for the time that is 
coming when for a thousand years at least, there will 
be no devil on the earth that will deceive people. We 
thank Thee, our Heavenly Father, for every one who 
has received the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting only in 
His precious blood shed for us. We thank Thee that 
every such one is a truly saved soul, saved to all eter- 
nity, saved by an all-sufficient salvation ; and may the 
joys of this great redemption take hold of us with in- 
creased power. May the thought that Thou hast 
sealed us until the redemption of the purchased pos- 
session, having no fears, no doubts, but rejoicing we 
are Thy property and sealed by Thy Holy Spirit, en- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 115 



able us, each one, to present our bodies a living sacri- 
fice that others may be led to Thee, and that Thou 
mayest accomplish Thy pleasure in making Thee 
known on the earth. May these not be idle words. O 
Lord, awaken us to see that people are perishing on 
the earth, and to lead them to know the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 



Chapter 8. 

A word about missions, the report for the past two 
months. My own increasing conviction is that a church 
or company of people, meeting to worship God, who 
do not thus meet for a two-fold object, at least two- 
fold, are not as much as they might be in harmony with 
Christ. We meet to worship God, to learn to know 
Him better, but we meet also that we may have an in- 
creasing desire to make Him known throughout the 
world. I beheve firmly that the church that does not 
Hve to tell the Gospel to the heathen is not in sympathy 
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And whenever a company 
of Christians on earth becomes filled with that fact, 
that belief, there will be some more missionary work 
done, and the sooner will Christ come back from 
heaven and bring His kingdom. My church in Ger- 
mantown is only a little company, but with a little 
company God can do a good deal. This little company 
and the nineteen classes which I meet every two weeks 
are getting filled with the same spirit more and more. 
The report which we gave of the Bible studies and the 
missionary work which the Lord was pleased to do in 
1895 was very encouraging. We do not know what 
He may see fit to do in 1896. We can only report for 
the first two months in that year. We report for those 
two months $5,618 received for missions. I have never 
had two months so good as these, but it is His way of 
making a thing grow. Of this $5,600, $987 came from 
the very small congregation to whom I minister — ^$987 
in two months, $429 in January and $558 in February ; 

116 



BOOK OF REVELATION n? 



$1 loo came from the Bible classes, and the other 
$3',6oo from individuals here and there in the classes 
or' reached by the little paper, Kingdom Tidings, and 
all this voluntarily without any asking or solicitation. 
I trust by calling your attention to this object from 
time to time you will be led to believe that if we are 
willing to have the Lord work through us He will 
work through us to His great glory and to our present 
and eternal good. 

I told my people a week ago that on Wednesday eve- 
ning last we would take an offering for the sufferers 
in Armenia. I said, "There is a box at the end of the 
room, in which you can put what you feel led to give." 
I took $93 out at the end of the service. I merely said, 
"There is the box. You can use it if you like, if not, 
all right." Sixty-three dollars more were handed in 
privately, making $156 for the Armenians. Part we 
sent through the Philadelphia Committee, and part 
through the Christian Herald. 

I found an offering of $3.00 in the box in the vesti- 
bule here for the missionary in Africa on behalf of the 
Children-in-Heaven's missionary, which has grown 
from $2.00 to $110. That mother will be very glad 
that she ever started that missionary. The amount for 
the missionary to the Jews has grown to over $320, and 
thus the things grow. 

Now while we study the Book of Revelation, while 
we meditate upon the Lord's wonderful way of bring- 
ing His kingdom on the earth, may He give us each, 
each individually (do not lose yourself in the congre- 
gation, I am talking to you individually, friends, the 
Lord takes us individually) an ever-increasing desire 
to make Him known to the heathen. Then when we 
come to the judgment seat of Christ we will be glad we 



STUDIES IN THE 



let Him work through us. He wants to use men and 
women just as they are. You say, 'Well I am poor." 
That doesn't matter. He is rich. ''But I cannot 
speak." He can speak. "But I am not qualified." He 
is quahfied. "And you really think He can use me ?" 
He can use anyone whom He can get in His hands for 
His use, who will have no will, no plan of their own. 
I often think of a man I used to see as a little boy. I 
had to go to the drugstore for medicine occasionally. 
I had to notice his finger. He could not use it, it al- 
ways stuck out straight. I have often thought since 
that many members of the body of Christ are like that 
finger, set in their own way. They will insist upon 
being Presbyterians, or Episcopalians, and so on, and 
to step out of that, they cannot think of it. We must 
be willing to be anything under the sun the Lord wants 
us to be, and to go anywhere He wants us to go. De- 
nominationalism is a very small affair. To be an out- 
and-out Christian is to serve the Lord in His way. 

We have with us in the company this afternoon a 
young man who was recently expelled from Peru by 
the Catholic fathers. He and his companion were ac- 
tually driven out of the town, escaping only with their 
lives. He is ready to go back again when the Lord 
wants him to. Some of us have been thinking there 
might be an opening for him in the Province of Bo- 
livia. There is not one single witness for Christ in all 
this very dark section. There are others, but this is 
one. Lift up your hearts and ask the Lord to guide 
our brother and guide us. 

We will turn to our Revelation study, the eighth 
chapter. "And when he had opened the seventh seal, 



BOOK OF REVELATION 119 



there was silence in heaven about the space of half an 
hour." 

Let us keep before us the story we are studying. 
We are reading of the way in which our Lord will fill 
this globe with His glory. It is very helpful to keep 
before us constantly the fact that the time will come 
when ''the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of 
the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." I 
like to dwell upon this. It is inspiring. Things are 
of ttimes discouraging. And we might well be discour- 
aged, and some of the missionaries do get discouraged, 
and would think it almost in vain if they did not know 
that the earth would surely be ''filled with the knowl- 
edge of the glory of the Lord" in due time. 

I think we have seen clearly from the Scriptures that 
God's purpose in this age is to gather out an elect com- 
pany who shall administer the affairs of the world in 
the next age, an elect company of rulers. In the next 
age the affairs of the earth shall be properly admin- 
istered. 

Let us go over the outline of the book again. Chap- 
ters 4 and 5 the company of elect rulers caught away. 
Chapters 6 to 18 inclusive, the events which will tran- 
spire from the taking away of the church until the 
return of the church. These days will be characterized 
by judgments, awful judgments. It is a story often 
repeated, that the Lord is going to punish the world 
for iniquity. We wonder how He can keep silence so 
long at things that go on in this world. He is long- 
suffering, not willing that any should perish but that 
all should have everlasting life. 

You have a key to the story of God's dealing with 
the earth in the story of Abraham. Abraham could not 
enter into the promised land until the iniquity of the 



I20 



STUDIES IN THE 



Amorites was full. God brought the descendants of 
Abraham or Jacob, the Israelites up from Egypt into 
the land he promised to Abraham and made them a 
scourge to the inhabitants of the land whose iniquity 
was full. The iniquity of this world is being filled up 
and when it is full, when the thing is ripe, then God 
will come in judgment, and that little book will be 
taken and the seals will be broken. When the first seal 
was broken, we heard the voice like thunder and the 
voice of a living creature was heard saying *'Come," 
and the white horse comes, which brings victory ; the 
second seal, the red horse, war; the third seal, the 
black horse, famine; fourth, the pale horse, death; 
the fifth seal, the voices of those who had been slain 
for the word of God after the church was taken away, 
their souls under the shelter of the blood ; the sixth 
seal, the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the 
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men 
and every bondman and every free man hiding them- 
selves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains 
and crying to the mountains and rocks to fall on them. 
The seventh chapter comes in as an interval between 
the sixth and seventh seals, and tells of the salvation 
of a great multitude out of the great tribulation. Now 
the seventh seal, the last seal, is broken, and you hear 
not a sound. Look at it ! When he opens the seventh 
seal there is silence in heaven. What does it mean? 
We look to see if the word is used anywhere else. 
Take the word that perplexes you and look in the Bible 
and see where it is used elsewhere. There is only one 
other place where this word ''silence" is used. Acts 
21 : 40, ''And when he had given him license, Paul 
stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto 
the people. And when there was made a great silence. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 121 



he spake unto them." This is the story of the arrest 
of Paul, who is being taken to the Council, and there 
is a great multitude of people and Paul asks permission 
to speak to them, and when he had given him license, 
Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned the hand unto 
the people, and when there was made a great silence 
he spake unto them. I think we can understand that. 
It is simply a picture of a vast multitude perfectly still, 
a great silence. Does it mean the same thing in 
Heaven? Evidently. The same word only used in 
these two places. When the seventh seal is broken, 
angels and saints are still. Not a sound to be heard. 
What can it mean ? 

Turn a moment to the Prophecy of Habakkuk, chap- 
ter 2, verse 20, "The Lord is in his holy temple : let all 
the earth keep silence before him." 

It is the time that He is going to fill the earth with 
His glory. Look at verse 14 : ''For the earth shall be 
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as 
the waters cover the sea." One more passage, Zech. 
2: 12 and 13. Some people won't keep silent. You 
can't make them be still. They say it is not true. God 
is not going to choose Jerusalem. The idea of making 
Jerusalem the capital of this world. He says to you, 
''Be silent. Do not dare to talk back." He will do 
what He says He will ; and as the seventh seal is about 
to be opened, God is going to show His power, show 
His hand, we might say, and let us see what He will 
do. It is certainly a time in heaven of great expecta- 
tion. We will see what it means. It is a time of awe, 
a time of expectation. Notice the expectation of all 
Heaven. It is a time also of confidence in God. When 
we are silent with God, we are trusting Him. Psalm 
37 : 7, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." 



122 



STUDIES IN THE 



Marginal reading is, ''Be silent to the Lord and wait 
patiently for him/' Luther's translation is, "Be silent 
to the Lord, and let Him mould you." Here's a word 
for our lives. What are you doing to-day, dear friends, 
before God? What are you doing? Are you rebel- 
ling? Are you murmuring and very unrestful, or are 
you silent to God? ''Be still and know that I am God." 
Be silent to Him. Be yielding to Him, and let Him do 
what He desires through you. 

If I was talking to little children, I think I could 
make this opening of the seventh seal plain to them by 
telling them a story of Christmas times. The parcels 
are brought home and it is time to open them, and the 
children are gathered around. There are a number of 
wrappers on this parcel. The first wrapper comes off 
and then another and another and so on, and now father 
says, "Just one more." And you can imagine the hush 
of the children, all eyes of expectation, and they lean 
forward on tiptoe. Father says, "When I get this 
wrapper off you will see." That would help the chil- 
dren to understand the expectation in Heaven as the 
seventh seal is broken. When the seventh seal is 
broken, there is silence. 

"And I saw the seven angels which stood before 
God; and to them were given seven trumpets." I do 
not read in my Bible anywhere else of seven angels 
which stand before God. I hold in my hand a part of 
the Bible called the Apocrypha, and I turn to the Book 
of Tobit and I read from the twelfth chapter, fifteenth 
verse, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, 
which present the prayers of the saints, and which go 
in and out before the glory of the Holy One." I do 
not say that this Apocrypha is as inspired as the Bible, 
but I do say there is some wonderfully good reading 



BOOK OF REVELATION 123 



in it, some interesting and strange things in it. We 
would not set it before you as on the same footing as 
the Bible, but it is worth reading. These seven angels 
are God's ministering spirits. They just love to do His 
bidding. Psalm 103:20, 21 and 22, ''Bless the Lord, 
ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his com- 
mandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. 
Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of 
his, that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his 
works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, 
O my soul." 

''Another angel came and stood at the altar, having 
a golden censer; and there was given unto him much 
incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all 
saints upon the golden altar which was before the 
throne." 

The seventh seal gives rise to seven trumpets, and 
our next study is to notice the sounding of these seven 
trumpets and to notice what follows. It may be that 
the events under these seven trumpets are somewhat 
parallel rather than consecutive, rather than following 
the events of the seals. The seven trumpets will de- 
velop into seven vials covering the same periods of time 
in a measure. 

There is a golden altar in heaven. In chapter six of 
Revelation we read of the brazen altar of sacrifice, 
salvation, but in this chapter of the golden altar. The 
golden altar was in the holy place. Into the outer room 
the priest came once a day. Into the inner room, the 
holy of holies, he came but once a year. The golden 
altar speaks of the incense altar in the tabernacle and 
the temple. The father of John the Baptist, Zacharias 
was offering incense in the temple and all the people 
were outside praying. This is wonderfully like what 



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is going on to-day. People are praying down here, and 
our Lord, who is our great high priest has gone within 
the veil and is offering incense. Once a year the censer 
was carried within the veil, on the great day of atone- 
ment. Our Lord has gone within the veil and up there 
He is offering continually incense for us. I would not 
dare to stand here and talk to you in His name, were it 
not that I knew that His merits make acceptable all 
the bungling work we do in His name. We would not 
dare to lift up our hearts in prayer to Him, if we un- 
derstood matters, were it not for the fact that He, the 
Lord Jesus Christ, makes our prayers acceptable by 
His merits. So what a mistake we make when we say, 
*'I would like you to pray for me." "I would speak, 
but my testimony is so bungling." The humblest 
prayer from the feeblest instrument, the most bungling 
testimony, if it is from the heart unto God in the name 
of Christ is made acceptable by His merits. Thank 
the Lord, then, for the story of the incense. The in- 
cense up there makes service down here acceptable. 
Let us not hesitate, the most unworthy of us, to be 
used by the Lord anywhere or any way He wills. 

''Much incense, that he should offer it with the 
prayers of all saints." Not with the prayers of the 
Bishop or the Archbishop, but with the prayers of all 
saints. If you are a redeemed soul you are a saint. 
Let us be encouraged, then, if that is the case, that any- 
thing we do in that name is acceptable, and let us say, 
"My Lord, anyway Thou wilt, and I am ready." 

The fifth verse tells that the angel took the censer, 
and filled it with fire off the altar, and cast it into the 
earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and 
lightnings, and an earthquake. What a different result 



BOOK OF REVELATION 125 



from the same fire. Notice the fire on the altar, how 
the incense ascends to God, and the prayers of all 
saints are accepted. Every prayer is recorded. Do not 
think for a moment that God has not heard you. He 
has surely heard you. ''Well, why don't He answer?" 
Let Him have His own time. Do not set a time for 
God. 

But notice the contrast. The same fire that causes 
the incense to ascend is taken and cast into the earth 
and fearful things happen, — thunderings and light- 
nings and earthquake. Lev. 9, last two or three verses, 
''And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and 
blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin 
offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings. 
And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the 
congregation, and came out and blessed the people; 
and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the peo- 
ple. And there came a fire out from before the Lord, 
and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the 
fat : which when all the people saw, they shouted, and 
fell on their faces." Chapter 10, verse i. "And Nadab 
and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his 
censers, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, 
and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he 
commanded them not. And there went out fire from 
the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before 
the Lord." This is a parallel story. The fire from 
God consumes the sacrifice, accepts it. The sons of 
Aaron disobey God, and the same fire comes out from 
God and kills these men. The same fire that accepts 
the sacrifice destroys the disobedient. What is the 
wrath of God? The love of God rejected. The same 
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God, who loves 
to save all who come to Him, will come in due time as 



126 STUDIES IN THE 



the man of war, to the overthrow of kingdoms and 
will say to the finally impenitent, "Depart from me ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and 
his angels." Let us not, then, turn our backs on the 
love of God, the grace of God, lest turning our backs 
on the only Saviour, we will have to suffer through all 
eternity. 

"And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets 
prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, 
and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, 
and they were cast upon the earth : and the third part of 
trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up." 

Concerning these trumpets, I think it will do for the 
present if I call attention to them in a general way. 
As these first four trumpets are sounded, you will no- 
tice, friends, events on earth. First of all trees and 
grass are burnt up. The first thing that God caused to 
grow on earth were the herbs and trees, the story of 
the third day in the Genesis restoration. The first 
things affected when the trumpets begin to sound are 
the trees and grass, the destruction of the trees and 
grass. 

"And the second angel sounded, and as it were a 
great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea : 
and the third part of the sea became blood ; And the 
third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and 
had Hfe, died; and the third part of the ships were 
destroyed." It was something like a mountain. It 
does not say it was a mountain. "As it were a great 
mountain" is cast into the sea. 

"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great 
star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell 
upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the foun- 
tains of waters; and the name of the star is called 



BOOK OF REVELATION 127 



Wormwood : and the third part of the waters became 
wormwood; and many men died of the waters, be- 
cause they were made bitter." 

It is bad enough with us sometimes, but this will be 
more fearful. This will be awful, because this causes 
death. Perhaps the water causes death to-day, but this 
will be prevailing death. Did you ever read of any- 
thing like that. Away back in the Book of Exodus 
there was a plague of blood and of fire and of hail from 
heaven. It is very like this story of the deliverance of 
Israel from Egypt. Very like it. And we are told in 
connection with the deliverance of Israel, not from 
Egypt, but from all the nations of the earth that 
plagues like unto the plagues of Egypt will come on 
the earth. Were they real plagues ? Why not? Real 
locusts, real flies, everything real? The Egyptians 
would tell you so. Yes, they were awfully real. Will 
these plagues that are coming be real? More real than 
one can describe. Are you not thankful that you are 
a member of His body the church, and that this will all 
be after we are taken away from the earth? 

"And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part 
of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, 
and the third part of the stars ; so as the third part of 
them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third 
part of it, and the night likewise." 

The next verse, ''And I beheld, and heard an angel 
(an eagle) flying through the midst of heaven, saying 
v/ith a loud voice. Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants 
of the earth by reason of the other voices of the 
trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound !" 

Who can this eagle be ? What does it mean ? An 
eagle crying to the people on earth. We read in Exo- 
dus 19 and Deut. 32 that Jehovah Himself is compared 



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STUDIES IN THE 



to an eagle. It is written concerning Israel, He says, 
"I have borne you on eagles' wings." If the Lord 
Himself is compared to an eagle, it is not strange for 
saints to be compared to eagles. It is written, "We 
shall mount up on wings like eagles," What is that 
verse in the Gospel by Luke, chapter 17:24 to 37. 
Verse 37, ''And he said unto them. Wheresoever the 
body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." 
It is a different story from that in Matthew. That is 
not a dead carcass as in Matthew 24. ''Where, Lord, 
where ?" "Where the body is there shall the saints be 
gathered together." It is the same word that Christ 
says when He says, "This is my body broken for you." 
We are in a sense strange creatures. We live on flesh 
and blood ! If we eat not the flesh and blood of Christ, 
we have no life. The same chapter says, "He that be- 
lieveth hath everlasting life." 

The following are abstracts from the writings of 
some of the so-called fathers as to whom these eagles 
are : 

Chrysostom says, "The congregated eagles are the 
assembly of saints and martyrs." 

Jerome says, "Eagles are the saints whose youth is 
renewed like the eagle's, (Ps. 103: 5) and who mount 
up with wings as eagles (Isa. 40:31) that they may 
ascend to Christ." 

Augustine says, "The eagles which fly on the wings 
of the Spirit flock to this body because He died for us, 
and hereafter as eagles will be caught up to Him in the 
clouds." 

Luther says, "As the eagles are gathered where the 
body is, so shall Christ's people be gathered where He 
is." 

"Eagle saints look for His coming — live in the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 129 



heavenlies — and are caught up before the judgment. 
They take part in the judgment, (i Cor. 6 : 2.)" 

One eagle flying in heaven, making this proclama- 
tion : ''Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth 
by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the 
three angels, which are yet to sound !" Doubtless it is 
one of the saints. Are you eagle saints, living upon 
the body of Christ? Does your vision pierce beyond 
the present up into the future? Then, oh let us say, 
''Thank the Lord, for the kingdom that is coming." 
Then let your heart say, "Lord, use me somewhat to 
bring this great and glorious time, and the gospel to 
those who have it not." 

Our Father in Heaven, help us to be still before 
Thee. Let us not talk back to Thee. Let us not rea- 
son with Thee, against Thee, wilfully. Let us not be 
set in our own thoughts or ways, but oh may we hear 
the voice of the Spirit saying, "Be silent." Help us to 
accept every event in life, every circumstance as Thy 
loving kindness moulding us for eternity. Make us 
glad this afternoon that the Lord Jesus Christ is our 
High Priest in Heaven and that incense is offered with 
the prayers of all saints. We do thank Thee that Thou 
dost condescend to use such feeble and unworthy in- 
struments as we are. May we be increasingly glad that 
Thou art always with us, and Thy merits always avail. 
Thou art worthy, and help us to say, "We are for Thy 
pleasure." May we tremble when we think of the judg- 
ments that are coming. People on the earth to-day 
think these judgments are not coming, but O Lord, this 
day, make us tremble before Thee, and give us hearts 
to feel for those who know not these things. Let us 



I30 



STUDIES IN THE 



be glad to be Thy laborers this little while. And may 
we be eagle saints feeding continually on our Lord 
Himself, lifted above the things of the earth that would 
otherwise worry and annoy, ready to cry unto all whom 
we may reach, that our Lord Jesus Christ still receiveth 
sinners. 



Chapter 9. 



"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall 
from heaven unto the earth : and to him was given the 
key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottom- 
less pit ; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the 
smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air 
were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And 
there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: 
and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of 
the earth have power. And it was commanded them 
that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither 
any green thing, neither any tree ; but only those men 
which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 
And to them it was given that they should not kill 
them, but that they should be tormented five months : 
and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, 
when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men 
seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to 
die, and death shall flee from them.'' 

Such is the account of the sounding of the fifth 
trumpet, and the events which shall take place at that 
time. We are reading of a time between the transla- 
tion of the church and the return of the church. We 
are reading of a period known in Scripture as the great 
tribulation. It is known in Jeremiah as the time of 
Jacob's trouble. Our Lord spoke of it as a time of 
tribulation such as never was and never would be again, 
and He said the time shall be shortened. We are not 
living in darkness in regard to it. 

What is the object of this tribulation? What is the 

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STUDIES IN THE 



object of these judgments on the earth, the object of 
such torment as that in the section I have just read? 
We think we are not left in the dark. Turn to the end 
of the chapter, verses 20 and 21, ''And the rest of the 
men which were not killed by these plagues yet re- 
pented not of the works of their hands, that they should 
not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and 
brass, and stone, and of wood : which neither can see, 
nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their 
murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornica- 
tion, nor of their thefts." 

What will be the object of God in permitting these 
judgments to come upon the earth ? That men may re- 
pent. The love of God is wonderful, like Himself. 
His name is Wonderful. He is not willing that any 
should perish. ''God so loved the world, that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 
3: 16.) We are famihar with that verse. Its very 
familiarity, probably, robs us of its power. There is 
such a thing as barren familiarity with Scripture. The 
Lord deliver us from it. 

What can it mean to perish? It must be fearful, 
when God sent His only begotten Son from heaven to 
earth and made Him a sin offering for us, that we 
might never perish ! In 2 Peter 3 : 9 we read, "The 
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men 
count slackness ; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not 
wiUing that any should perish, but that all should come 
to repentance." In Ezekiel 33 : 11 we read, "Say unto 
them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleas- 
ure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked 
turn from his way and live." 



BOOK OF REVELATION 133 



It is not the will of God that people should be lost. 
It is not the will of God that people should perish, and 
after He has taken the church out of the way, He will 
still deal with men in every possible way, if perchance 
they may repent and be saved. It is one of the last 
things He will do with man, — He will give them a taste 
of hell on earth, if perchance they will repent and be 
saved from an everlasting hell. We hear of people 
saying, ''My life is a hell on earth." Like a man who 
said this recently, and then took his life and went out 
into the torment he did not believe in. He shot him- 
self. If people believed the Scriptures concerning the 
future it would put a stop to a great many suicides and 
murders, which occur so often because teachers of the 
word of God have made light of hell and its torments. 
People believe that they cannot have worse than they 
have on earth, and rush out suddenly into the very 
presence of the devil to experience through all eternity 
what they might have escaped through the love of God. 
Is it not astonishing that ministers supposed to preach 
the word of God should make light of these matters? 
How popular it is to make light of these things. Min- 
isters will tell you as they meet together from week to 
week that they are seeing more and more clearly that 
the tendency of these times is to make light of these 
things. A hell of eternal torment is ruled out of the 
preaching of to-day. And how much that is responsi- 
ble for the murders and suicides and other crimes, God 
only knows. We ought to be afraid to make light of 
anything that God has written in His word. It must 
be something indescribably awful to perish, when God 
will give men a taste of! the devil's administration on 
earth in order to save them from eternal torment. 

Dear friends, let us hold fast a few things. If you 



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hold fast the word of God, somebody else will hold fast 
to it through you. ''God is love." Let us hold that 
fast. That is one of the foundation truths of this 
book. And along with that, "God so loved the world 
that he gave — the dearest and the best He had — his 
only begotten Son" to suffer what no tongue can de- 
scribe, ''that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." It was a most hu- 
miliating thing to come from heaven to earth but to 
come to live in Nazareth that was a greater humilia- 
tion. To mingle with sinful people, to be hated by 
them, to be scoffed at by them, to suffer every humilia- 
tion, — Oh who can describe the humiliation of Christ. 
Who can describe the humiliation of Christ when He 
cried from the cross on Calvary, "My God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me?" There is a depth there 
that no mortal can enter into. We cannot enter into 
the agony of Gethsemane on the night before He was 
crucified. It is significant, that He left eight of His 
disciples just inside the gate, took three a little farther 
and then went a little farther alone and sweat as it 
were great drops of blood, and prayed over and over 
to God that that cup might pass from Him, that He 
might go on to finish His work. In the fifth of He- 
brews we read that His prayer was heard. When 
prayer is heard it is answered. The devil tried to kill 
Him that night, and God strengthened Him, and that 
cup passed from Him, the cup of leaving His work un- 
finished. He went on to Calvary and finished His 
work. But who can tell what it can mean to have been 
forsaken by God ! Some people would have us believe 
that He was not forsaken by God, but that He only 
thought so. He said, "My God, my God, why hast 
thou forsaken me?" And He never said what He did 



BOOK OF REVELATION 135 



not mean. Because of our sins, the sins of the whole 
world laid upon Him, the Father's face was withdrawn, 
and for a little time it was as dark as midnight. "Why 
hast thou forsaken me?" It was because of sin. He 
died the Just for the unjust. He died as our substi- 
tute. We cannot explain it, but He died for us on the 
cross and finished the work by rising from the dead, 
and now there is redemption, eternal redemption for 
every soul who will accept the Lord Jesus Christ. And 
our Father in Heaven is seeking in every possible way 
to have men believe that He means what He says, to 
have them confess their guilt and receive Christ and 
be saved, that they may never perish. Can we under- 
stand what it means to perish ? Can we understand its 
meaning? It is impossible. Only the lost in the place 
of the lost can know anything of what it means. 

There is a place of torment of which we read in the 
sixteenth of Luke. I do not know why people call the 
sixteenth of Luke a parable. Christ says, ''There was 
a rich man, and there was a poor man." There is no 
sin in being rich, there is no credit in being poor. The 
Lord simply gives us a statement of facts. He de- 
scribes these two men, one enjoying his riches and un- 
grateful for them, and the other as having nothing in 
this world but suffering. And our Lord says, ''They 
died." He knew what He was talking about. The 
rich man they buried. It was his body they buried. 
We do not bury people. We bury the houses in which 
they live. But the man, where was he? Now mark! 
Our Lord says this, and He never talks nonsense, never 
talks lightly about anything, "The man lifted up his 
eyes being in torment," the place of departed spirits, 
and such torment that he would have been glad of a 
drop of water on his tongue. Some would have us 



136 STUDIES IN THE 



believe there is nothing in that, although they are the 
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. "I am tormented in 
this flame." Possibly that flame may refer to the 
searching eyes of Christ, which laid bare the man's 
whole life. He was told, ''Son, remember.'' The word 
''flame" is used of the eyes of Christ in four or five 
places. The poor man died, and angels carried him to 
a place of bliss, a place of glory. The rich man tells 
what his trouble is, when we hear him say, "Send 
somebody to my brothers." O how he pleaded! No 
minister ever pleaded with souls more than that man 
did for his brothers on the earth. He asked that Laz- 
arus might go and tell his brothers "lest they also come 
to this place of torment." The answer was, "If they 
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Can you 
not imagine people who having gone out into the place 
of the lost between death and resurrection, saying, "O 
if I could reach my friends on earth that they might 
not come to this place of torment." Read that story 
over, friends, in the sixteenth of Luke, until you take 
it in and believe in the awful reality of it, and beheve 
that the God of love has made redemption for the peo- 
ple on earth, but if they insist upon rejecting His love, 
they must take the consequences. 

In this ninth chapter, we have an illustration of 
God's love in permitting these fearful things to come 
on the earth, if perchance they may escape the tor- 
ments of the lost. That is the reason I had you read 
the passage in Job. Job 33 : 29, "Lo, all these things 
worketh God oftentimes with man." "All these 
things," sickness, trials, everything but death itself, all 
these things worketh God oftentimes. Verse 14, "God 
speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.", 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



Verse 30, **To bring back his soul from the pit, to be 
enlightened with the light of the living." Verse 23, 
''If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one 
among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness" 
(God's uprightness). There is not one among a thou- 
sand to-day. Count up the preachers. Count up the 
ministers. Is there one among a thousand? ''If there 
is only a messenger, one among a thousand to show 
unto man God's uprightness." Job cried out, "Oh that 
there was a day's-man to put his hand upon us both !" 
That is for identification. Job said to his friends, 
"You do not understand me. Oh for a man who knows 
God and knows me, who can put his hand upon God 
and put his hand upon me, a mediator, a redeemer, 
who can understand us both!" At another time he 
said, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." The Lord 
Jesus Christ is one who can understand each of us. The 
Lord Jesus Christ knows thoroughly about you. He is 
well acquainted with you. He has been in this world. 
He knows what trials are as well as we do. He knows 
God, and He says, "Let me bring you together. Come, 
give me thy hand and I will lead thee right up to the 
Father, and say, 'Father, receive this sinner,' and He 
will accept thee." His Father would accept you for 
His sake, would give you Christ's righteousness in a 
moment, and then you could sing, "never perish" and 
become one among a thousand. In this great redemp- 
tion He is doing everything that people may not perish. 
He is not willing that any should perish. Are we in 
sympathy with Him ? Let us turn to the chapter. 

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall 
from heaven unto the earth : and to him was given the 
key of the bottomless pit." 

This explains itself. "To him," the star, an angel, 



138 STUDIES IN THE 



a person, to him was given the key of the bottomless 
pit, and he opened the bottomless pit. There is some 
person, an angel, one of God's creatures, and he is 
given the key of the pit. You see God has power over 
everything. I cannot tell you where the pit is. I am 
not interested to know where it is. It may be in the 
centre of the earth. It looks as if it were. There is a 
place called the pit, the bottomless pit, the abyss. It is 
mentioned seven times in Revelation. It is only men- 
tioned twice elsewhere in the New Testament. In the 
Gospel by Luke where the devils were cast out of the 
man in the tombs, they besought Jesus not to send 
them into the deep. Reading carelessly you might 
think they meant not to send them into the Sea of 
Galilee, but they said. Do not send us into the abyss, 
meaning the pit. They prayed not to be sent into the 
prison-house. Romans 10:7, "Shall we descend into 
the deep, (the pit) to bring Him up?'' It will be the 
prison-house of the devil for a thousand years, during 
the time that Christ shall reign with His saints on the 
earth. God has control of it. 

Here's a messenger with a key to open the pit. He 
opened it, *'and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as 
the smoke of a great furnace ; and the sun and the air 
were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And 
there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth : 
and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of 
the earth have power." 

These are the strangest locusts you ever heard about. 
There is a plague of locusts in the Book of Exodus. 
Those locusts destroyed all the green things which had 
not been destroyed by the fire and hail. Those were 
natural locusts. These are not natural locusts. These 
locusts are forbidden to hurt the grass of the earth or 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



any green thing. Their object is to torture men ; but 
only one class of men, those mevi which have not the 
seal of God in their foreheads. You see that takes us 
back to the seventh chapter. It is very evident that the 
ninth chapter describes the events recorded in the 
seventh chapter. There we read of the sealed 144,000 
of the twelve tribes of Israel, and here we are told the 
locusts are to smite the men who have not the seal of 
God in their foreheads. 

Let us see how they are to torment them. They will 
torment them five months. They will want to die but 
they cannot. You never heard of a time like that, have 
you? Men can die now, as fast as they want to, the 
river, the pistol, the rope, poison, any way they please. 
But here's a time, a period of five months, when men 
will be tormented fearfully, and they will want to die, 
and they cannot. During these five months they will 
have such a taste of torment that perhaps they will 
repent and cry to God and escape eternal torment. 

There are those who thmk this had a fulfillment. 
They think it referred to the hosts of the false prophet 
in ages past. But this goes far ahead of the descrip- 
tion of the army of Mahomet. This describes a time 
when infernal creatures from the bottomless pit will 
torment men for five months. 

Will they be visible ? Not necessarily. What is this 
thing called the grippe that has been around for some 
time? It kills some, so that it cannot be of the same 
nature, but it is a strange, uncomprehensible thing, a 
new disease, they call it. Where does it come from? 
Who can tell how much of our sickness is due to the 
evil spirits that are about us, filling the air, the mes- 
sengers of the devil. Here is a time yet future when, 
from a place called the pit, hosts of infernal creatures 



STUDIES IN THE 



will be on the earth to torment men five months. In 
our Genesis studies we learned that five suggests 
abundance. Here's an abundance of torment, an 
abundance to prove that men should turn to God and 
believe. 

The description of these creatures is very strange. 

"And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses 
prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it 
were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces 
of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and 
their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had 
breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the 
sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of 
many horses running to battle. And they had tails like 
unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: 
and their power was to hurt men five months." 

Like horses, with crowns of gold, hair like women, 
teeth like lions— we » might easily get some figurative 
meaning out of this, but as to any literal significance, I 
cannot give it to you. I have nothing. Horses suggest 
power ; crowns, their authority ; faces of men, intelli- 
gence; hair of women may be suggestive of beauty. 
We know that the glory of woman is her hair. Paul 
says so by the Spirit. Teeth of lions suggestive of a 
firm grip of some kind ; breastplates, that they cannot 
be hurt; 'and the sound of their wings was as the 
sound of chariots of many horses running to battle." 
I think we will have to give it up, and wait. The Bible 
gives us the simple fact that they are creatures under 
the control of the devil from the pit sent to torment 
men for a period of five months. Their king is called 
in Hebrew Abaddon, in the Greek, Apollyon. 
Let us turn to the sixth trumpet. 
"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



from the four horns of the golden altar which is before 
God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, 
Loose the four angels which are bound in the great 
River Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, 
which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a 
month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men." 
The Revised Version has it, ''the hour, the day, the 
month, the year.'' Here is something different from 
the fifth trumpet. Then they wanted to die and could 
not. But here they will get all the death they want. 
"And the number of the army of the horsemen was 
two hundred thousand thousand." Two hundred thou- 
sand thousand, two hundred millions of infernal cav- 
alry under the control of this wicked one. 

It is interesting to notice that the sixth trumpet is 
somewhat similar to the sixth vial we shall come to by 
and by in the sixteenth chapter. We will come in that 
chapter to the pouring out of the six vials. Both the 
sixth trumpet and the sixth vial have something to do 
with the River Euphrates. We know there is a real 
River Euphrates. 

I wonder if I made it plain last week about the tab- 
ernacle. The one room, the Holy of Holies had in it 
just the Ark of the Covenant with the Cherubim on it. 
The outer room had three pieces of furniture, the 
golden altar of incense, the table of shewbread and 
the candlestick, whereas out in the court there were the 
laver and the brazen altar. Here is a golden altar, the 
power of the merits of Christ, — the same lesson as last 
week partly. God is love, God provides redemption 
for all, and will accept the sinner through the sacrifice 
of Christ symbolized by the brazen altar. God pro- 
vides access to Himself by the merits of Christ, by the 
golden altar. He is the only ransom. If we turn 



142 



STUDIES IN THE 



away from Christ, there is no other way, and judg- 
ments must come to us. 

Sometimes the question is asked, what is the mean- 
ing of that passage in Hebrews where it says, "If we 
sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of 
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 
but a certain looking for of judgment and fiery indig- 
nation." "If we sin wilfully after receiving the knowl- 
edge of the truth" means, I think it is very plain, if we 
have the knowledge of the truth, if we know there is a 
Christ who saves us, and then continue sinning against 
Him, that then there is no ransom for us. There is no 
such thing as the possibility of being saved and then 
lost, without perverting Scripture. If we have re- 
ceived Christ, we have eternal redemption. A man 
may have the knowledge of Christ and not receive 
Christ. If we know the way, and will not accept the 
way, then there is no other salvation provided. There 
is no other way. Once we have received Christ, then, 
we have His word for it no power can pluck us out of 
His hand. Thank God for the fact that we shall never 
perish! Fellow believers, are you sure that you will 
be with Christ in glory some day, or have you a fear 
you will drop out by the way? If our getting to glory 
depended upon our faithfulness, we might drop out, 
but since He says no one shall pluck us out of His 
hand, we shall never perish. 

What are some of the sins to be found on earth in 
these days of which we are reading? "That they should 
not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and 
brass, and stone, and of wood : which neither can see, 
nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their 
murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornica- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



tion, nor of their thefts." "Yet repented not of their 
works." 

What is the worship of devils, of evil spirits ? What- 
ever is not the worship of God is the worship of the 
devil. Deut. 32 : 16 and 17, ''They provoked him to 
jealousy with strange gods, with abominations pro- 
voked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, 
not to God ; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods 
that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not." 
I Cor. 10: 20, "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, 
they sacrifice to devils, and not to God." Is not that a 
fearful thing we find on the earth to-day — all this 
medium business ? Whatever is not the w^orship of the 
true God, however beautiful in outer form, is the v^^or- 
ship of the evil one and his evil spirits. We do not bow 
down to hideous images; but when we bow down to 
money it is idolatry worse than that of the Israelites. 
I Tim. 4:1, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that 
in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, 
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of 
devils." 

And oh ! the murders and suicides of to-day. The 
papers are full of them. They do not all get into the 
newspapers,, the foeticides, and the infanticides. God 
only knows these things. The adulterers and sorcerers 
that we have to-day and people with the power of div- 
ination, and the lewdness indescribable of the thou- 
sands. Are these things happening in these days? 
Yes, they are to a very large extent. And things will 
grow worse and worse until God comes from heaven 
and overturns all these sins. 

Listen to what God says. Let us be subject to God. 

What is all this so-called Spiritualism, and all that 
sort of thing? That is the work of the devil. Is it not 



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STUDIES IN THE 



all sleight of hand? No, by no means. Do you think 
that spirits appear ? Not a doubt of it, evil spirits per- 
sonating the dead. Is not that an old story? When 
Saul the king went to the witch of Endor to call up 
Samuel, do you not think that witch had to do with 
familiar spirits ? It was the work of Satan. She was 
in the habit of calling up evil spirits, but she was not 
in the habit of seeing just men; and when the Lord 
caused Samuel to appear she got a good scare. She 
got more than she expected that day. As to all this 
work of mediums, remember one thing concerning it, 
friends, it is abomination to God. Deut. i8: lo, ii, 12. 
''There shall not be found among you anyone that 
maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, 
or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or 
an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter 
with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 
For all that do these things are an abomination unto 
the Lord : and because of these abominations the Lord 
thy God doth drive them out from before thee." 

2 Tim. 3:1. The more these perilous things increase 
the more near we are to the last days. Could there be 
a better description than this third chapter of 2 Tim- 
othy, even of the days in which we live ? And they are 
growing more like that all the time 

Lord deliver us. Lord have mercy on us and lead us 
to say, 'Xord, Jesus Christ, help us to yield ourselves 
fully to Thee that we may perhaps assist in pulling 
some others out of the fire before the eternal torment 
comes, and make us tremble lest we in some way turn 
from Thee." 



Chapter 10. 



There is a question handed in. "Please tell us what 
all capitals mean in the word Xord/ " The word 
"Lord'' and the word "God" when found all in capitals 
stands for Jehovah. The original word is Jehovah 
whether it is written in our Bible "LORD" or "GOD," 
provided they are all in capitals. Jehovah, our right- 
eousness. The One who was and is and ever shall be. 
When Noah was told to take the animals into the ark 
Elohim said take two of each kind. Jehovah required 
more than two that He might have some for sacrifice. 
Jehovah said take seven. "Lord," capital "L" and 
small ''o" "r" "d" signifies my Possessor, my Pro- 
prietor, Adonai, the Man who owns me, whose I am, 
and whom I serve. It follows very beautifully the 
word all in capitals in our experience. We accept 
Christ as our righteousness, our Saviour, and then we 
own Him as our Lord and Master. 

Our study to-day is in the tenth chapter of Revela- 
tion. I will read the first few verses. "And I saw an- 
other mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed 
with a cloud : and a rainbow was upon his head, and 
his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars 
of fire : And he had in his hand a little book open ; 
and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot 
on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a 
lion roareth : and when he had cried, seven thunders 
uttered their voices." 

We have in this chapter, if I understand it, the pic- 

lo 145 



146 



STUDIES IN THE 



ture of the Lord taking possession of the earth. The 
description does not answer to anyone else. We do 
not suppose that He will literally put one foot on the 
sea and one foot on the land, but we will see presently 
the meaning of all that. The whole chapter describes 
the Lord Jesus Christ taking possession of the earth, 
for His redemption reaches to the earth. We have re- 
ceived the Spirit the first fruits of the inheritance until 
the redemption of the purchased possession. 

It is evident from the papers that people are begin- 
ning to believe that the earth needs another ruler, be- 
sides the rulers it has. I read from an article in The 
Independent of New York by Miss Frances E. Wil- 
lard, these words, ''An ancient nation is being slowly 
slaughtered at the foot of Mr. Ararat, fifty thousand 
victims stretched out under God's sky in the slow circle 
of a year ; women, pure, devout and comely, suffering 
two deaths — a living and a dying death ; little children 
poised on the bayonets of Moslem soldiers, villages 
burned, and starvation the common lot." 

On the other hand. Christian Europe, with seven 
millions of soldiers who take their rations and their 
sacrament regularly; statesmen who kneel on velvet 
cushions in beautiful cathedrals, and pray ''We beseech 
Thee to hear us, good Lord"; diplomatists who can 
"shape the whisper of a throne" and shade the mean- 
ing of an Ultimatum ; but neither statesman, diplomat 
nor soldier has wit, wisdom or will to save a single life, 
shelter a single tortured babe, or supply a single loaf 
of bread to the starving Christians on the Armenian 
hillsides : "vested interests" are against it, "the bal- 
ance of power" does not permit it, the will of the Sultan 
is the only will in the Empire of Turkey, and all the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 147 



wills of all the Christian nations cannot move it one 
liair. 

Dr. George Washburn says, *'There are special rea- 
sons for uncertainty at the present time in the char- 
acter of those who control the action of the Great 
Powers. The Sultan, to begin with, has proved him- 
self to be one of the boldest and most skillful diplo- 
matists in Europe ; and his point of view is so totally 
different from that of Christian rulers that no one can 
calculate in what direction it will lead him. The Em- 
peror of Russia is a weak man, little inclined to rule 
and liable to be influenced now by one party and now 
by another. The Emperor of Germany is an enigma 
— some say a genius, some say a madman — at any rate, 
he is hasty in his decisions and has the most absolute 
confidence in himself. France has no stable govern- 
ment, and no able statesman. She is at the mercy of 
demagogues. The wisest sovereign in Europe is the 
Emperor of Austria ; but he may die any day, and his 
successor is a stick. Lord SaHsbury was described by 
Bismarck as not a man of iron, but a man of wood 
covered with tin plates; and his conduct of the Ar- 
menian question has seemed to justify this view. Cer- 
tainly he had the game in his own hands up to last 
November, and if he had had the courage to order the 
fleet to force the Dardanelles and come to Constanti- 
nople he would have won the day and gained the place 
now held by Russia, whose complete triumph is not due 
to any superior skill in diplomacy either here or at St. 
Petersburg, but simply to Lord Salisbury's lack of 
courage to do what he wished to do. 

'*With such elements of uncertainty in the methods of 
diplomacy and in the men who direct it, it would be 
folly to venture any predictions for the future. Things 



148 STUDIES IN THE 



may drift on for months or years very much as they 
are to-day, or some unforeseen incident may change 
the whole face of Europe." 

Dr. Kinsley Twining says, ''The bare, bald and hu- 
miliating fact that must dawn on us, sooner or later, 
as to these Armenian massacres, is that, in spite of the 
assurance our nineteenth century civilization and prog- 
ress were supposed to give against such atrocities, the 
impossible has burst on us, and of all the records of 
cruelty and horror enacted by man on man, this latest 
extirpation of the Christian population in Asiatic Tur- 
key is the worst. There is an awful ferocity in it 
which balks and baffles this fancied age of peace, and 
sets a-ringing in our ears the imprecation which Mo- 
hammed died repeating : 'Xord, destroy the Jews and 
Christians/* There never was anything like it before 
in the history of the world. The only model or pre- 
cedent for it is to be found in the inhuman practices of 
a Tiberius or a Caligula, in serving up human torture 
at table as a dish fit for a king." 

The Rev. Frederick D. Greene says, ''One of the 
most deplorable results of the recent Armenian atroci- 
ties is the evident and growing callousness in regard to 
them, on the part of nations and individuals who have 
been supposed to be Christian, or at least civilized. 
Perhaps we would be nearer the truth in considering 
this callousness a revelation of the real character of 
the times, rather than a result of Hstening to crimes 
committed by others. This raises again the ominous 
question whether civilization is necessarily progress, 
and whether the Christianity of to-day is Christian." 

Now, these are words, friends, from those who 
know something. Another item from the London 



BOOK OF REVELATION i49 



spectator in a business journal. "The century has 
been one of almost continuous progress, but its close 
is being marked by a singular epidemic of restlessness 
among the nations. They all say they are powerful, 
and prosperous, and advancing, but they all give signs 
of deep dissatisfaction with their position. * * * The 
civilized world in truth, which for nearly a century has 
advanced so rapidly on the path of material progress, 
is at this point of its strenuous labors seething with 
discontent, ready to risk all it has attained in an out- 
burst of furious wars, intended to secure objects which 
it only half perceives in the distance, and is by no 
means certain that it really at heart desires. * * * A 
very small match just now would fire the magazine, 
and we feel no confidence, as we did five years ago, 
that all the matches are in safe hands. * * * So far 
as human eyes may see, the condition of the world— 
and more especially the condition of men's minds- 
points to some kind of disastrous explosion as at hand 
in the near future." 

Thus from time to time we read what people are 
thinking about and it will help us. Does the Bible say 
anything about it? Turn just a moment to Luke 21, 
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, from verse 24: 
"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall 
be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem 
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times 
of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs 
in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars ; and upon 
the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea 
and the waves roaring ; men's hearts failing them for 
fear, and for looking after those things which are com- 
ing on the earth : for the powers of heaven shall be 



150 STUDIES IN THE 



shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man com- 
ing in a cloud with power and great glory." 

''Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." When 
Israel and Juda went into captivity in the days of 
Nebuchadnezzar (Juda I am speaking of specially now 
for that closed up the captivity) then began the times 
of the Gentiles so fully described in Daniel. Is not 
this a strange thing, that the Book of Daniel from the 
latter part of the second chapter to the seventh chapter 
is written in the Chaldean language, as if to say to the 
Gentiles read in your own language what has taken 
place? The days of the Gentiles have run on from the 
time of Nebuchadnezzar, and the time is now about 
run out, and then, "Then shall they see the Son of man 
coming in a cloud with power and great glory." 

''Yes, we are drawing near to the coming of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. The Sunday School lesson this 
week is wholly on that topic. If only they will make 
the most of it, great things will be accomplished on the 
line of getting people ready for it. We are not to get 
ready for it like the man who sold off all his property. 
We are supposed to be at our work until the moment 
of our departure, living as if He might not come for a 
hundred years, yet as if He might come any minute. 
And the time will come when our Lord will take pos- 
session of the earth. 

The lesson to-day is suggestive, not of the first stage 
of His coming, when we meet Him on His way, but of 
His coming to actually overturn the kingdoms of this 
world and bring in His kingdom. The Sunday School 
lesson for next Lord's day is a lesson with special ref- 
erence to Israel, and yet there are lessons in it for us. 
There are lessons for us everywhere in the Bible. 
There is one lesson that is even past us. In verse 36 



BOOK OF REVELATION 151 



of the twelfth of Luke we read, "Ye yourselves like 
unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return 
from the wedding; that when he cometh and knock- 
eth they may open unto him immediately." Now I 
certainly am not waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ to 
come back from the wedding, and I am sure no mtelli- 
gent people are. There is a certain class of people who 
will be waiting for Him to come back from the wed- 
ding, but if we are the bride of Christ we must be 
there, or there will be no wedding. You can't have a 
wedding without a bride. This passage has reference 
to Israel and not to the church. There is no record of 
the church in the Gospels. The mystery of the church 
is made clear in the Acts of the Apostles, and you have 
in the Epistles the fulfillment of the statements there 
concerning Christ. Coming to Israel in humiliation, it 
was only to Israel He was speaking. Not until after 
the resurrection is the command given, "Go ye mto all 
the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."^ 

Just this word concerning the lesson of the coming 
week. When our Lord shall return, the first step will 
be the meeting in the air of the saints with Him, then 
comes the judgment of the church and the rewards for 
service; and then the great tribulation on the earth, 
such times multiplied a thousand fold as have been 
seen in Armenia the past year. This is not a pleasant 
story. This is simply a record found in the Bible. 
When the church is gone, there will be terrible times 
on the earth, because the devil knoweth he hath but a 
short time. What will the days of that tribulation be 
like! But Scripture says these days are coming. 
There is some little restraint in some parts of the world 
just now, even in Armenia, precious little, by the pres- 
ence of the missionaries there ; but when the church 



152 STUDIES IN THE 



is gone from the earth, and the devil and the beast and 
the false prophet have everything their own way, what 
a time it will be ! No wonder Jeremiah says it will be 
a time of Jacob's trouble ! Daniel in the twelfth chap- 
ter and our Lord in Matthew 24 say the same thing. 
It will be closed by the return of Christ with His saints. 
Last week's lesson gave us a sample of some of the 
things that will be on the earth in those days ; but we 
have some encouragement or hope in the third chapter 
of Revelation, in the Epistle to the church at Philadel- 
phia, ''Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, 
I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, 
which shall come upon all the world, to try them that 
dwell upon the earth." Another word for certain peo- 
ple is found in that same twenty-first chapter of Luke, 
verse 36, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that 
ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things 
that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of 
man." But O thank the Lord it will come to an end 
and our Lord will come in His power and shall bring 
His saints with Him and take possession of the earth. 
The Bible speaks of angels coming from Heaven as we 
would talk of coming from or going to Brooklyn or 
New York. He speaks as if we would be in contact 
with Heaven. It is even so to-day. Angels are here 
but they do not make themselves visible to us. Are 
they not all ministering spirits sent from Heaven to 
minister to the heirs of salvation ? 

''And I saw another mighty angel come down from 
heaven, clothed with a cloud : and a rainbow was upon 
his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his 
feet as pillars of fire." 

Is that our Lord Himself? It looks like it. The 
cloud is a symbol of the presence of God always, as in 



BOOK OF REVELATION i53 



the cloud that covered Mount Sinai in the giving of 
the law, and the cloud that led the Israelites by day, 
and the cloud that came down on the Temple at the 
dedication. In Ezekiel i : 28 we read of a rainbow, 
"As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud m 
the day of rain, so was the appearance of the bright- 
ness round about. This was the appearance of the like- 
ness of the glory of the Lord." We have the ram- 
bow mentioned four times in the Bible, the last time 
in this tenth chapter of Revelation. The rainbow is 
always suggestive of God's covenant with the earth. 
Here in this tenth chapter, it is the time of the earth's 
redemption. The brow that wore the crown of thorns 
will redeem the earth and make it His own place again. 
His feet as pillars of fire, are suggestive of righteous 
judgment, He will judge. He will rule in righteousness. 
"And he had in his hand a little book open." 
In the fifth chapter we saw the little book sealed, and 
a "strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is 
worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals there- 
of ? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under 
the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look 
thereon." And John wept, but one of the elders said, 
"Weep not, behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the 
Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to 
loose the seven seals thereof." And now He comes 
with the little book wide open in His hand, and puts 
one foot on the sea and one foot on the earth. In the 
Old Testament, in at least two places you will find that 
putting one's foot on anything meant taking possession 
of it. Deut. 11:24, "Every place whereon the soles 
of your feet shall tread shall be yours." Joshua i : 3 
and 4, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall 
tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto 



154 



STUDIES IN THE 



Moses, etc.'' Here is a promised land, this Bible, a 
land of thousands of promises which belong to the child 
of God; and how few of them we have placed our 
foot upon ! How many promises could you read this 
afternoon, if we had time, that you actually live upon ? 
How many of the thousands of promises have you 
made your own, placed your foot on them figuratively ? 
There is much land yet to be possessed. Let us appro- 
priate more of these promises. There is a story of 
selHng property in the Book of Ruth. It was the cus- 
tom for the one who sold the land to take off his shoe 
and give it to the man who bought it, as much as to 
say this shoe has trodden on it, you have bought the 
property and it is yours. 

''And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roar- 
eth; and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered 
their voices." 

"Roaring as a lion" is found in Isaiah 42 : 13, Jer. 
25 : 30, and Joel 3 : 16, and elsewhere. You will find 
when the Lord is spoken of as roaring it is in connec- 
tion with Israel and the restoration of Israel. ''Seven 
thunders uttered their voices." John was about to 
write what the thunders said, but he heard a voice 
from heaven saying, "Seal up those things which the 
seven thunders uttered, and write them not." So we 
cannot tell what the thunders said. Thunder is the 
voice of God. 

"And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and 
upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware 
by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created 
heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, 
and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the 
things which are therein, that there should be time no 
longer." The first time you find an oath of this kind 



BOOK OF REVELATION 155 



is in the story of Abraham, tempted by the king of 
Sodom to take the property he offered him. Abraham 
said, '1 have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the 
most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth" and 
I will not touch it. Abraham had sworn to God that he 
would touch nothing that belonged to the king of 
Sodom. We are not so careful to-day. People now- 
a-days have lifted up their hands but will take all they 
can get. This is because we do not understand our 
relation to God. If we believed we had a Father we 
would never turn aside for help in the King's work. 
We as Christians should never in the least degree turn 
aside to look for the things of Sodom to carry on the 
Lord's work. It is one of the most shameful things in 
the earth to-day, when the church turns aside to Sodom 
and tricks for help to carry on the work of God. God 
is able to manage His own work. 

Our verse says that time shall be no longer. The 
Revised Version says "delay." *'Delay shall be no 
longer." It is a long time to wait, isn't it ? "How long?" 
"How long?" cry the slain ones in Armenia to-day. 
How long is the cry going on? Until He shall come. 
In the end of Hebrews 10, we have these words, "For 
ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the 
will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a 
little while, and he that shall come will come, and will 
not tarry." A little while, a very little while. There 
is a time coming when there shall be delay no longer. 

"But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel" 
— we shall have that in the next chapter. This tenth 
and a portion of the eleventh chapter comes in between 
the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets, just as 
the seventh chapter comes in between the opening of 
the sixth and seventh seals. "In the days of the voice 



156 



STUDIES IN THE 



of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the 
mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared 
to his servants the prophets/' 

The word mystery is very suggestive. It is one of 
the most beautiful Bible studies. Mystery to be known 
needs revelation of the unseen things of God as re- 
gards His everlasting purpose ; for ever since the crea- 
tion of the world and the first man there has been the 
figure of another who would be the Head of all. If 
you take your Concordance and look up the word 
''mystery" to find out what is that mystery to be fin- 
ished in the days of the coming of our Lord again to 
this world, you will find : 

The mystery of God and Christ, the Father and the 
Son. Col. 2 : 2. 

The mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. 
I Tim. 3 : 16. 

The mystery of Christ and the church, the bride of 
Christ. Eph. 5 : 32. 

The mystery of the Gospel. Eph. 6: 19. 

The mystery of the kingdom. Mat. 13 : 11. 

The mystery of God's everlasting Headship. Rom. 
1 : 20. 

The mystery of Israel's blindness for the time being. 
Romans 11 : 25-26. 

The mystery of the resurrection of the body, i Cor. 
15:51. 

The mystery of iniquity. 2 Thes. 2 : 7. 

The mystery of God, Rev. 10: 7, which only He can 
clear up. 

These will all be finished in the days of the sounding 
of the seventh trumpet. We shall see then clearly what 
in these days we can understand only darkly. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 157 



"And the voice which I heard from heaven spake 
unto me again, and said, Go and take the httle book." 

There is a voice in this Bible for my soul ; and if, as 
I read my Bible, I do not get a voice speaking to my 
soul, I have read in vain ; if I do not get a message for 
my own soul as I listen to a sermon, I have listened in 
vain. I have been praying the Lord that something 
out of these talks may touch each one, that each one 
may feel that it is for him. Accept it in His name if 
you get anything. 

A voice said to John, "Go and take the little book 
which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth 
upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the 
angel, and said unto him. Give me the little book. And 
he said unto me. Take it, and eat it up ; and it shall 
make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet 
as honey. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy 
again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, 
and kings.'' 

We are said to eat the word of God. Ezekiel was 
told to eat the roll in the third chapter of Ezekiel. 
John was told to eat the book. In the Book of Job we 
read, 23 : 12, "I have esteemed the words of His mouth 
more than my necessary food." In Jeremiah 15: 16 
we read, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them ; 
and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of 
mine heart." A man wrote me once that he had ar- 
rived at Jer. 15: 16. He was enjoying the word of 
God; but had not gotten to Job 23: 12. He had not 
learned to love the word more than his dinner. When 
we can read the word and enjoy it somewhat, that is 
good; but when we enjoy it more than the best meal 
we ever ate, that is better. How do we enjoy it? Our 
Lord said in John 6: 53, "Except ye eat the flesh of 



158 STUDIES IN THE 



the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no Hf e in 
you." If we believe and accept His word in our souls 
and make it our very own, we have eaten this word. 
**The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me." 
I think that is one of the first I ever made my very 
own. It took hold of me with power. Gal. 2 : 20, the 
last clause. You can make it present tense if you will. 
I have eaten this word, '1 write unto you because your 
sins are forgiven for his name's sake." i John 2 : 12. 
I have eaten this word, ''For I the Lord thy God will 
hold thy right hand, saying unto thee. Fear not ; I will 
help thee." Isaiah 41 : 13. Isaiah 48: 17, '1 am the 
IvORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which 
leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." And 
so you might go on. Do you know what you have 
eaten, the words that have done you good? Psalm 
138:8, ''The Lord will perfect that which concerneth 
me." Isaiah 14 : 24, "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, 
saying. Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to 
pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand." 
Every purpose of God shall stand. He has a purpose 
for you and me in our lives, and He will bring it to 
pass. Col. 3 : 4, "When Christ, who is our Hf e, shall 
appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." 
Rev. 3:21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to 
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and 
am set down with my Father in his throne." 

O Lord, blessed be Thy Holy Name, we want Thee 
to come and take possession of heaven and earth, to 
take possession of earth and sea. We are to be with 
Thee in that day, when Thou wilt take possession of 
Thine own property and bring in the thousand years 
of peace and prosperity on this earth. Think of the 
beautiful days that are ahead of us, even though there 



BOOK OF REVELATION 159 



are such times in Armenia and will be worse in other 
places first. For the storm may rage horribly a little 
while, but those who are Thine and shall die in those 
days shall be absent from the body and present with 
the Lord. Not even death can harm a child of God. 
We are told to ''fear not them which kill the body, but 
are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him which 
is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Inas- 
much, O Lord, as the days are coming when the king- 
dom will be Thine, help us to say from the heart, ''Take 
me as a piece of property for thine own possession, 
and I will be Thine from this day forth, my whole 
being yielded to Thee that Thou mayest have Thine 
own way with it." We know great good will come to 
us as we say we are Thine. Help us to do it. And 
may it be our desire to see everything on the face of 
the Globe bowing down to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
acknowledging Him as their Lord and Master. What 
shall we do about it just now? Let us say this, "O 
Lord, inasmuch as Thou shalt come and take posses- 
sion of the earth for Thyself and cast out the devil and 
all iniquity, Lord take me this afternoon. Put Thine 
hand upon me and say, 'You are My property,' and 
give me grace to say, 'Yes, Lord, I am Thy property, a 
man, a woman, set apart for Thyself, kept for Thy 
pleasure.' " And as we go forth, may we rejoice that 
we are the Lord's property, and when the devil roars 
at us, just say, "The Lord roar at him." He will man- 
age it, we will keep quiet and trustful as a little child 
with his hand in his father's hand. Let us hold our- 
selves at the Lord's disposal. He will use us in ways 
we do not dream of, until the time when He will be 
King of kings and Lord of lords. Shall we do it? 



i6o 



STUDIES IN THE 



Let us pray : 

Our Father and our God, we are glad that al- 
though the delay seems so long, although we still cry, 
"How long,'' we thank Thee that there will come a 
time when there shall be delay no longer. While we 
wait, may we just live on Thy word; and pass it on to 
others, even if, it being sweet in our mouths, it may 
bring us bitterness, for we do know if we are faithful 
to Thy word, we shall find somewhat of that which 
this explains of the prophets' experiences as they spoke 
in Thy name. Let us not hesitate to speak Thy word, 
and make us faithful, for we ask it in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. And may the peace of God which 
passeth all understanding keep our hearts and minds 
through Christ Jesus. Amen. 

4SP 



Chapter 11: 1-14. 



Our lesson to-day is in the eleventh chapter of Reve- 
lation. 

"And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: 
and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the tem- 
ple of God, and the altar, and them that worship there- 
in. But the court which is without the temple leave 
out, and measure it not ; for it is given unto the Gen- 
tiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot 
forty and two months." 

This section like the tenth chapter of Revelation 
comes in between the sounding of the sixth and seventh 
trumpets. Here we read of the temple. Whenever we 
read of the temple, it is very clear we are reading of 
something concerning Israel. We cannot imagine Is- 
rael as a nation apart from a tabernacle or a temple. 
As soon as God brought them out of Egypt, He told 
them to build a tabernacle in which He would dwell 
among them. Since the destruction of the temple, they 
have been scattered as a nation. When they will be 
restored, they will have another temple. The last nine 
chapters of Ezekiel, chapters 40 to 48, describe a tem- 
ple. Whether this shall be built before the return of 
Christ for His saints, or after His return in glory is 
not very clear. But there will be somewhat of a tem- 
ple, a temple made of some kind before Christ comes 
in His glory. As soon as they are made a nation, rec- 
ognized as a nation, they will have some building as a 
temple, for they will be gathered back in unbeHef and 
will have a temple for their sacrifices. The nation is 
II 161 



STUDIES IN THE 



coming back to Palestine in unbelief, and when He 
comes in His glory, they will be converted as a nation, 
when they look upon Him. In Zechariah 12 and 13 
and in Ezekiel 37, you find the prophets tell of their 
being restored in unbelief, and as a nation converted by 
His appearing. 

"Rise, and measure the temple of God." 

Measuring has its own significance. The word 
"measure," or "measurement," or "to measure" is 
found in six chapters in Ezekiel more than sixty 
times, more than in all the rest of the Bible put to- 
gether. The significance of measuring is found in two 
or three places. Habakkuk 3, verse 6, "He stood, and 
measured the earth : he beheld, and drove asunder the 
nations." In what connection do we find this state- 
ment? Verse 13, "Thou wentest forth for the salva- 
tion of thy people, even for salvation with thine 
anointed." The measuring of the earth is spoken of in 
connection with the redemption of Israel. Zechariah 
the second chapter, the first two verses, "I lifted up 
mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a 
measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither 
goest thou ? And he said unto me, To measure Jeru- 
salem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is 
the length thereof." Here we have measuring in con- 
nection with the rebuilding of Jerusalem. The last 
part of the chapter, verse 12, "And the Lord shall in- 
herit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall 
choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before 
the Lord : for he is raised up out of his holy habita- 
tion." It is in the fourth verse of this chapter you 
have the command, "Run, speak to this young man," a 
good word for any young man to appropriate for him- 
self in connection with all the yotmg men whom he 



BOOK OF REVELATION 163 



may meet. Here the command is go tell him of the 
great things that are coming; but if you do not tell 
him that, telling him of the great things in the Gospel 
is always in order. 

One other word in connection with measuring. We 
read in Jeremiah 31 : 38 and 39 concerning measuring 
and the measuring Hne, ''Behold, the days come, saith 
the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord 
from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the cor- 
ner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over 
against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about 
to Goath." Last clause of the next verse, "It shall not 
be plucked up, nor thrown dow^n any more for ever." 
Measuring, then, is associated with the restoration of 
Israel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. 

''Measure the temple of God." There are two words 
translated "temple." There is a word that is never 
used of any building except the literal temple at Jeru- 
salem. There is another word, the one used here, 
which is used of the temple at Jerusalem, but is also 
used of the spiritual temple. The word that is here 
translated temple our Lord Jesus Christ used when He 
said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
raise it up." "But he spake of the temple of his body." 
It is also used in Eph. 2:21 and i Cor. 3: 16 and 17 
and 6:19 of the church, the mystic temple built of 
stones : men and women are the stones. If you are in 
Christ, then you are the stones in this temple. The 
mystic temple, the church having been taken away as in 
chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation, God begins to deal with 
His people Israel. Then, as in this Revelation story, 
there will be a real temple in the holy city once more, 
— a temple of the people appropriated for God's own 
use. "But the court," let us see for how long it is 



i64 STUDIES IN THE 



given unto the Gentiles. "And the holy city shall they 
tread under foot forty and two months/^ Make a note 
please of this period of time. It has its own story to 
tell. This is a period mentioned in the Book of Reve- 
lation five times and in the Book of Daniel twice, called 
by three different names, — forty-two months, 1,260 
days, ''time and time and a half.'' And if you will 
read carefully the verses of the seven passages in which 
this period is found and the connection, you will see 
each time it is used, it refers to the same period of 
time, — the last three years and a half ere the coming 
of Christ in His glory. The passages are these : Dan. 
7:25; 12 : 7; Rev. II : 2 and 3 ; 12: 6 and 14; 13:5. 
So you have it in three consecutive chapters in Reve- 
lation, and here it is called forty-two months. Multi- 
ply that by thirty and it just gives you 1,260 days, just 
three and a half years, or time, times and a half time. 
I was always perplexed over that expression until I 
noticed in the margin of Daniel 11 : 13 ''times" is an- 
other word for year. Let us turn just a moment to 
Daniel 9 and see a reference to this period, verse 24 : 
"Seventy weeks (more literally seventy-sevens) are 
determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to 
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, 
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in 
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and 
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." Daniel is 
being spoken to by Gabriel about Daniel's people. It is 
not a world-wide affair. It is a matter respecting 
Daniel's people. 

Verse 25 of Daniel 9, "Know therefore and under- 
stand, that from the going forth of the commandment 
to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the 
Prince shall be seven weeks, and three-score and two 



BOOK OF REVELATION 165 



weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, 
even in troublous times." Verse 26, ''Seven weeks, 
and three-score and two weeks" are 69 weeks. Sixty- 
nine times 7 are 483. Verse 26, "And after three score 
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for 
himself, (Margin, shall be cut off and have nothing) 
and the people of the prince that shall come shall de- 
stroy the city and the sanctuary ; and the end thereof 
shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war 
desolations are determined." Now, what are the facts 
in the case? From the going forth of the command to 
rebuild Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah until the 
cutting off of the Messiah was exactly 483 years. In 
the restoration of the people to the land there were spe- 
cial edicts, the one to rebuild the city in the days of 
Nehemiah and the other to rebuild the temple. ''And 
after three-score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut 
off and shall have nothing : and the people of the prince 
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanc- 
tuary ; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and 
unto the end of the war desolations are determined." 
So desolation and trouble have been for Israel ever 
since the destruction of their city. Now what ? "And 
he shall confirm the covenant with many for one 
week." You may find it hard to believe that between 
the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses of Daniel 
there is a period of 1,800 years and more. If you are 
familiar with God's way and with Scripture, you will 
not have trouble about this. Just take one illustration. 
Our Lord Jesus Christ in the synagogue at Nazareth 
stood up to read, and He read what we call the sixty- 
first of Isaiah. If you will compare it with the fourth 
chapter of Luke's Gospel, the eighteenth verse and the 
nineteenth, and notice just how far our Lord read and 



i66 



STUDIES IN THE 



where He stopped, you will see that He stopped right 
in the middle of a sentence, and shut the book and 
handed it to the minister, and sat down. He stopped at 
this phrase, *'To preach the acceptable year of the 
Lord." The very next words are, "and the day of 
vengeance of our God.'' Our Lord did not read that. 
If He had, He could not have said, *'This day is this 
scripture fulfilled in your ears.'' It is still the accepta- 
ble year of the Lord. The day of vengeance has not 
yet come. That is an illustration of many places in 
which you find a complete interval between even two 
clauses of a sentence. The sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 
were fulfilled when our Lord was cut off and had noth- 
ing. The last week of Daniel has not come yet. We 
are waiting for the last week of these seventy weeks 
of Daniel. You will know when this last week is com- 
ing, when you read in the papers that some prince, 
some ruler in Europe, has made a covenant, a seven 
years' covenant with Israel. Dan. 9 : 27, "And he shall 
confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in 
the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and 
the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of 
abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the 
consummation, and that determined shall be poured 
upon the desolator." Just picture to yourselves Israel 
a nation in their own land, having a temple for sacri- 
fices as in the olden days, as they will be unbelievers 
yet, and they are under the protection of this prince, 
but after three and a half years this ruler breaks his 
covenant and causes "the sacrifice and oblations to 
cease and for the overspreading of abominations he 
shall make it desolate." There's the key to this period 
of forty -two months, a time, times and a half, 1,260 
days, the last three and a half years just before the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 167 



return of Christ with His saints, after we have gone to 
meet Christ in the air. Shall we be here when that 
prince makes that covenant? That is a question we 
cannot answer. Possibly. Possibly not. If you hap- 
pen to be on the earth and read in the papers that this 
has come to pass, that Israel is being recognized as a 
nation, and a certain ruler in Europe has made a seven- 
year covenant with them, then you can count from that 
seven years, when the Lord will be here with His 
saints. We have no authority to count as to when we 
shall go to meet Him. It is an unknown time. We 
may go to meet Him any time. The counting business 
is in connection with Israel, not with the church. Is- 
rael's history is set aside as a nation for the time being, 
but it will be resumed again by this covenant, and 
events will go on as God says. 

Our lesson to-day is a description of the last three 
and a half years of Daniel's last week, immediately 
preceding the return of Christ in His glory. I hope the 
distinction is clear as to His coming to the air for His 
saints and to the earth with His saints. Rev. 11:3, 
"And I will give power (the word power is in italics, 
the margin says, '1 will give" it may be power) ''And 
I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall 
prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score 
days, clothed in sackcloth." During the time of that 
great tribulation, unparalleled sufferings of Israel, 
there shall be two men preaching in Jerusalem. "There 
are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks stand- 
ing before the God of the earth." It makes us think 
of Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Joshua, and Joshua 
and Zerubbabel. Joshua and Zerubbabel were the 
leaders, the lampstand with the two olive trees. The 
study of Revelation presupposes a knowledge of all 



STUDIES IN THE 



the rest of the Bible ; the study of the New Testament, 
supposes a knowledge of the Old ; the study of Jere- 
miah supposes you have studied Isaiah. We are to 
take this book and begin at the beginning. We did that 
with you in our Genesis studies to give you just a start 
so you could study the rest of the book with more un- 
derstanding. And now we are taking up Revelation 
to explain the ending of the book. 

In the study of Zechariah you have one of Zech- 
ariah's visions of a lampstand with olive trees, and the 
olive trees had a golden pipe from each tree to the prin- 
cipal bowl at the top of the lamp, and so from the trees 
there came to the bowl on the top of the lamp a con- 
stant supply of oil, — a symbol of Zerubbabel and 
Joshua at that time, — a symbol of Israel itself, — of the 
church also, if you will, because Israel was God's light 
on earth for a time, and the church is God's light on 
earth now : a symbol, if you please, of your own soul, 
for you and I are expected to be lights in this world. 
And how can we be lights ? The answer comes, ''These 
are the two anointed ones." There are only two 
classes of people spoken of as anointed, — kings and 
priests. One prophet, Elisha is said to have been 
anointed. The two anointed ones. Christ is our Priest 
and King, a type of all priests and kings. Now Christ, 
my Priest, has died for me. He lives for me. By the 
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I, if we 
have received Him, are saved. Because He lives, 
live. He is still our High Priest, by His sacrifice and 
by His constant intercession, we are saved and we live ; 
but that is only one tree. You will not shine as you 
might with only one tree. Unless we have learned to 
say, ''My King," unless we have yielded ourselves to 
Christ for willing service, we will not be the lights we 



BOOK OF REVELATION 169 



ought to be. Christ, our Priest, our Saviour, our In- 
tercessor, Christ our King, and we should be His 
faithful people, saying from the heart we are ready to 
be doing whatsoever He wants for His work. It re- 
quires two trees to bring the light out. 

Here are two men who will be God's witnesses in 
those awful days of the great tribulation in Jerusalem. 
They stand before the God of all the earth. That is 
where we ought to stand all the time. It is a small 
matter comparatively what people think of us ; but it 
is everything what God thinks of us. We shall each 
receive our own reward according to our own labor. 
May we ever stand before God, without regard to peo- 
ple, except as we may help them. 

"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out 
of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies : and if 
any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be 
killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain 
not in the days of their prophecy: and have power 
over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the 
earth with all plagues, as often as they will." From 
this description I think we will know who they are. 
''These have power to shut heaven.'' Why, that looks 
like Elijah. ''These have power to shut heaven that it 
rain not in the days of their prophecy." That looks 
very like Elijah,— j^st the description of what he did 
on the earth. "And have power over waters to turn 
them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, 
as often as they will." Why that looks like Moses. 
That is all we can say. These two witnesses look like 
Elijah and Moses. Now we know that Elijah is going 
to come. There is no manner of doubt about that. 
Our Lord said so. John the Baptist came in the spirit 
of Elijah; he came as Elijah; and after John the 



170 



STUDIES IN THE 



Baptist was beheaded, our Lord Jesus Christ said 
''EHas truly shall first come." Our Lord said that 
after John was killed in Matthew 17. He also added, 
EHas did come, but ye would not have him. John the 
Baptist was to Christ's first coming what Elijah will 
be to Christ's second coming. So when Christ comes 
again, Elijah shall come. This certainly looks like 
Elijah. Will Moses come? It looks like Moses. 
There is a difficulty about his being Moses. If it is 
Moses, he will have to die a second time. Elijah never 
did die. These two men are going to die. We just 
leave these thoughts with you. If you are going to 
spiritualize it, you w^ill have more difficulties. 

"And when they shall have finished their testimony." 

In spite of all the obstacles of those dark days, in 
spite of the hate of the Antichrist, they finished their 
testimony. This has been a comfort to me many a 
time. If we are faithful to God, no matter how Satan 
may rave, we shall finish our work; and when your 
work is finished, what do you want staying here any 
longer. You had better get home as fast as you can. 

"And when they shall have finished their testimony, 
the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall 
make war against them, and shall overcome them, and 
kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street 
of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom 
and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." They 
will refuse burial to them. "And they of the people 
and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their 
dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suflfer 
their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that 
dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make 
merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because 
these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 171 



earth." These two prophets will torment people by 
their sayings. Ezekiel was a torment to the people, so 
were Isaiah and Jeremiah. There are preachers to-day 
who torment some people. There is no faithful man 
who is not a torment to some people. Be patient and 
go on. They will wish you somewhere else, but be 
faithful and finish your work. 

They will kill these two witnesses. Then what will 
happen? Verse 11, *'And after three days and a half 
the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they 
stood upon their feet ; and great fear fell upon them 
which saw them. And they heard a great voice from 
heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they 
ascended up to heaven in a cloud ; and their enemies 
beheld them. And the same hour was there a great 
earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in 
the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand : and 
the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God 
of heaven." 

This is the story of the two witnesses who shall tes- 
tify in the City of Jerusalem in the last three years and 
a half of the history of Israel ere the coming of Christ 
with His saints. They will be killed and their dead 
bodies will lie unburied, and the people will make a 
regular Christmas time over them, sending gifts to one 
another. Oh ! how the people will hate God. 

These men were God's witnesses. There is not a 
believer in this house to-day, to whom God is not say- 
ing, "You are my witness." We cannot be God's wit- 
nesses until we have the power of God's Spirit upon 
us. So we read in the first chapter of Acts, ''But ye 
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come 
upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in 
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto 



172 



STUDIES IN THE 



the uttermost part of the earth." I ask you, fellow 
believers, are you willing at any cost to live the rest of 
your days on earth, in the store, in buying and selling, 
in the home, in the church, everywhere, as a witness 
for Jesus Christ? If so, we must be content to be dis- 
owned by the world, despised by the world, counted 
strange people, we must be willing to be slandered, lied 
about and misjudged ; but we will have the assurance 
of His approval, and when we meet our Lord will hear 
Him say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant." 
Lord help us to say, ''My spirit, soul and body are 
yours. Lord grant me grace to be patient." 

A lady said to me the other day, "My life has be- 
come just wretched since I have become a Christian. 
My husband thinks I am hardly worth living with. I 
used to play cards with him and go to the theatre occa- 
sionally, but now I do not care for such things. I must 
love him. Pray for me. I want you to pray for me," 
she said. There may be some here whose lives are 
wretched, because Christ has made a division. As in 
Matthew, Christ said, "I came not to send peace, but 
a sword." Peace for everybody, but no peace with evil. 
If you are an out-and-out Christian, and there are 
those in your own home who have no sympathy with 
you, that is nothing to what will yet be. Be patient for 
Christ's sake. Love them until you love them into the 
kingdom. May the Lord grant it. 

Our Father and our God, some of us have been 
thinking of the people in Armenia, men and women 
there who rather than deny Thee, O Christ, have said, 
"Kill me," and they have been killed. They have laid 
down their lives for Thee. And oh! the sufferings 
that are there to-day, those suffering worse in their 



BOOK OF REVELATION 173 



lives than those who died. And the suffering of those 
we hear of. It would be easy to die ; but to go on day 
after day in these tribulations, in these trials, mis- 
judged, misunderstood, hated for Christ's sake, O 
God, Thou knowest how much of grace it requires. 
Help us to be quiet, meek and loving, and to go on 
with the work Thou hast given us to do, shining for 
Thee, witnesses for Thee. Grant us to live as Thy 
witnesses. Lord, Jesus Christ, help us to say from the 
heart, ''I will do it. By Thy grace I will do it. Take 
control of me fully. May Thy presence be the great 
reality of life. While I stay in this world, Lord, I am 
Thine,— my spirit, soul and body, my time, my talents, 
all I am and all I have are Thine, O Christ." May we 
take the stand and stand to it. We ask Thee, O Lord, 
to let us know just what Thou wouldst have us to do. 



Chapter 11: 15-19. 



Instead of having a responsive reading to-day, I will 
take the time to answer a question. The writer of this 
letter containing the question has been for twelve years 
a Christian, and for ten years in actual service. There 
are certain passages in Scripture that have troubled 
him. It is quite possible that these passages may trou- 
ble others. Hebrews 3 : 6 to 14, specially the twelfth 
verse: *'Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of 
you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the 
living God." That seems to refer to fellowship with 
the Lord on the part of those who are His, — fellow- 
ship or lack of fellowship. Having received the Lord 
Jesus Christ, we want to be sure of one or two things, 
and there is no reason why we should not. Christ said, 
"I give unto my sheep eternal life; and they shall 
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of 
my hand." John 10:27 and 28. These words fell 
from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. There can be 
nothing in Scripture to contradict them. John 3:16, 
"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting Hfe." If we have truly received 
the Lord Jesus Christ, why not be just as sure as we 
are that there is a heaven above us that we have ever- 
lasting life? 

In the review of the quarter's lessons of the Sunday 
School, we find in the beginning of Luke's Gospel these 
words, * * declaration of those things which are 
most sureli believed among us." Verse 4, ''That thou 

174 



BOOK OF REVELATION 175 



mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein 
thou hast been instructed/' And it seems to me that 
Luke must have had in mind such a verse as this, 
Proverbs 22:21, "That I might make thee know the 
certainty of the words of truth ; that thou mightest an- 
swer the words of truth to them that send unto thee/' 
Unless, having received Christ, we will rest firmly upon 
the word of God, there is no rest for us. 

One said, a few days ago, ''I am not sure that I am 
saved. I wish I were sure. I cannot seem to get sure." 
I was astonished. I supposed they had rest. They are 
regular attendants at one of the Bible classes. I was 
led to give them this word, Ephesians i : 6, ''To the 
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made 
us accepted in the beloved," and urged them to live 
upon it. Now, fellow believer, if you have the least 
doubt about your eternal safety, why not take such a 
verse as that and live upon it? Take it this way, ''He 
(that is God) hath made me accepted in the beloved." 
Be satisfied— not with yourself— but satisfied with 
Christ and His finished work, and rest upon His fin- 
ished work. The next verse is helpful also, "In whom 
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness 
of sins, according to the riches of his grace." There 
are unbelieving beUevers. There are those who believe 
enough to be saved, but they are not in fellowship with 
Christ. They do not beUeve all the way through, and 
therefore they have not the joy of salvation. We may 
lose the joy of salvation. Salvation you cannot lose, if 
once you have got it : I should say Christ, for Christ is 
our salvation. Having received Christ, you have eter- 
nal salvation; but the joy you may lose, and I expect 
that is the condition of our friend. God is ready to 



176 



STUDIES IN THE 



restore unto him, and unto any one, the joy of salva- 
tion. 

The other passage that troubles him is in Hebrews 
6 : 4, "It is impossible for those who were once en- 
lightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and 
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted 
the good word of God, and the powers of the world to 
come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto 
repentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son 
of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Verse 
9 says, "But, beloved, we are persuaded better things 
of you." Now in the fourth and fifth verses there is 
not necessarily a single statement to indicate salvation. 
I think it is very likely that Balaam had all the things 
spoken of in these fourth and fifth verses. I think it 
is very likely that Judas Iscariot had all the things 
spoken of there. Balaam was surely enlightened. 
Judas Iscariot was enlightened. I suppose Judas 
preached and wrought miracles like the rest of them. 
If he did, it was by the Spirit. There are no more 
beautiful words on record than the ones Balaam spoke, 
and yet Balaam was a lost man. There is not neces- 
sarily anything in those statements to indicate a saved 
soul. It is knowledge spoken of here, and knowledge 
does not save. There is no salvation apart from the 
reception of the Lord Jesus Christ. I fear greatly 
there are multitudes in our churches who are not saved, 
who depend upon some experience they have had, or 
upon having been baptized. There is nothing under 
the sun that will save but an honest whole-hearted re- 
ception of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do let us search and 
see whether we are saved. It is possible to have light 
and taste the word of God and know the power of 



BOOK OF REVELATION 177 



God's Spirit, and not be saved ; but once saved, there 
is no getting away from that. 

Another passage on the same Hne is Hebrews 10: 
26, "If we sin wilfully after that we have received the 
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sac- 
rifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of 
judgment and fiery indignation.'* It does not say after 
a man is saved ; it says, after a man knows how to be 
saved if that man goes on in sin and rebellion against 
God's way, there is no other way but the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Now friends, if we have received the Lord 
Jesus Christ, if we can look into those eyes of fire 
searching us through and through, and say, ''Lord 
Jesus Christ, I know you are reading the very thoughts 
of my heart, and I confess myself before Thee a hell- 
deserving sinner, and I do receive Thee, the best I 
know how. I accept Thee as my Saviour, I depend 
only upon Thy merits." Wherever there is a soul that 
can say something to that effect, that soul can take the 
word of God to himself, ''He that cometh to me I will 
in nowise cast out." Then go on your way believing 
God every moment of your life, and as fast as the devil 
comes with his suggestions, take the word of God and 
say, "I know whom I have beHeved." 

Take one word of warning. You cannot possibly, 
though you may be saved, enjoy fellowship with God 
while you knowingly tolerate any sin in your life. 
There is the cause of great lack of fellowship, and a 
great lack of joy, and it all lies with ourselves. Let 
the saved man turn to God with his whole heart, and 
put away every known sin, then he can walk with God 
in fellowship. "He cleanseth us from all unrighteous- 
ness." If you are looking for joy and peace while you 
tolerate what you know is wrong, there is no use in it. 



178 STUDIES IN THE 



You may seek peace as long as you live and never find 
it. You may pray until you are black in the face. You 
must put away the wrong thing and then walk humbly 
with God. Let us be in fellowship. May this help us. 

Let us turn to the lesson for the afternoon, Revela- 
tion nth chapter, the last few verses. I will read a 
portion, from verse 15. *'And the seventh angel 
sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, say- 
ing. The kingdoms of this world are become the king- 
dom of our Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign 
for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, 
which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their 
faces, and worshipped God, saying. We give thee 
thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, 
and art to come; (the expression *'art to come" is left 
out in the Revised Version, because at this time He has 
come) because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, 
and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and 
thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they 
should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward 
unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and 
them that fear thy name, small and great; and 
shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And 
the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there 
was seen in his temple the ark of his testament : and 
there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and 
an earthquake, and great hail." 

We have here a synopsis of all the rest of the book. 
All that follows in the book is just an opening up of 
what is summarized here in these few verses. It says, 
*'The seventh angel sounded." We read to you two 
weeks ago in chapter 10, verse 7, *'In the days of the 
voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to 
sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he 



BOOK OF REVELATION 179 



hath declared to his servants the prophets." *When 
he shall begin to sound the seventh trumpet" then 
things will begin to be wound up to close this age, to 
bring in the better age ; and the time will come when 
"the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom 
of our Lord and of his Christ." If that is one of the 
facts most surely believed by you, it will be an inspira- 
tion to you. Until you know the certainty of this fact, 
that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to reign on this 
earth, and all kings shall fall down before Him, you 
will not be as inspired as you might be. I think when 
I see Dr. Bonar in the kingdom, I shall say to him, 
"The kingdom is the Lord's" or "the kingdom shall be 
the Lord's," because he called my attention in the sum- 
mer of 1881 to the last words in the prophecy of Oba- 
diah, "The kingdom shall be the Lord's." And I have 
never forgotten it and always think of him in connec- 
tion with that statement. I was riding with him, or 
walking with him, I have forgotten which, and asked 
him if he had read lately the Prophecy of Obadiah. I 
had been reading and feeding upon it. He asked me if 
I had noticed how it ends. "Oh! man, it's grand! 
The kingdom shall be the Lord's !" And all the years 
of his life, I beHeve, that man was filled with that great 
fact. He is now waiting in glory for the kingdom 
while we are waiting here. 

You have this statement in the twenty-second Psalm. 
It begins with the words our Lord uttered on the cross 
when He died, "My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
saken me?" This Psalm gives a wonderful description 
of the sufferings of Christ on the cross, but the Psalm 
ends with resurrection and coming glory. Verses 27 
and 28, "All the ends of the world shall remember and 
turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the na- 



i8o 



STUDIES IN THE 



tions shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is 
the Lord's: and He is the governor among the na- 
tions." 

I like to get passages grouped together that tell the 
same story, and very often in our missionary meetings 
in our own little church, we get hold of passages that 
tell of the glory of the Lord filling the earth. If you 
are not familiar with them, it is worth your while to 
put them down and memorize them. They are Num- 
bers 14:21, ''As truly as I live, all the earth shall be 
filled with the glory of the Lord." Here you have 
the statement the first time in Scripture. You have 
the same fact stated in Isaiah 11 : 9, "The earth shall 
be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
cover the sea." And the same fact once more in Ha- 
bakkuk 2 : 14, ''The earth shall be filled with the knowl- 
edge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover 
the sea." One says "the glory of the Lord," Isaiah 
says, "the knowledge of the Lord," and Habakkuk 
says, combining the two, "the knowledge of the glory 
of the Lord." Now it is an inspiration in the midst 
of all the wickedness about us, in the midst of the cold- 
ness of the church and the strange things about us, — 
it is an inspiration to have in mind the fact that this 
planet, this globe shall yet be filled with the knowledge 
of the glory of the Lord. Things are dark, things are 
discouraging ; but this fact is encouraging. But, you 
say, it will not come in my day. Let me help you to 
talk better than that. Are you a Christian? Are you 
a saved man or saved woman? If you are, it will of 
course be in your day, for your day will last forever. 
Do you not know the power of an endless life? Do 
you not know the joy of living forever? Have you not 
learned to look upon our sojourn here as but our child- 



BOOK OF REVELATION i8i 



hood? We are all little children yet. We have not 
come of age yet. We are not fully developed. There 
is a joy, there is a power in this life eternal that is not 
in the telling. We must experience it. 

The kingdoms of this world then shall become the 
kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. This glory is 
fully stated in the Book of Daniel, the second chapter. 
We are told in the beginning of the chapter that it was 
in the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's reign and in the 
fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign. Nebuchadnezzar 
was the king of Babylon. Daniel and his companions 
were captives at Babylon, and were in the college 
learning the wisdom of the Babylonians. Jeremiah was 
prophet in Jerusalem. Ezekiel was a young man at 
this time. In those days Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. 
The dream troubled him, but he forgot it, and could 
not tell it. In the morning he called his wise men to- 
gether— (Daniel does not seem to be among them. 
Probably he was one of the youngest)— and said, 
"Tell me my dream, and tell me what it means." They 
were taken by surprise, and they said, "O king, live 
for ever : tell thy servants the dream, and we will show 
the interpretation." The king said, "No, tell me my 
dream." They said, "Such a thing was never asked 
of any man on earth. We cannot tell you that." 
"Well, then you will all be slain." As Daniel was about 
to be put to death, he inquired why it was ; and when 
he was told, said "Give us time, and we will give the 
interpretation." And Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar 
word for word what he dreamed, and told him the in- 
terpretation of it. Do you remember the dream? 

He saw a great image with a head of gold, with 
breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs 
of iron, and feet part iron and part clay. And he saw 



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STUDIES IN THE 



a stone with no hands holding it, strike the image on 
the toes, and the whole image went to pieces, and be- 
came as the ''chafif of the summer threshingfloors/' 
Listen to Daniel's interpretation of the dream, for it 
covers the history of the world from that time on to the 
time of which we are reading. 

"This is the dream ; and we will tell the interpreta- 
tion thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king 
of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a 
kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And where- 
soever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field 
and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine 
hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou 
art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise an- 
other kingdom inferior to thee, and another third 
kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the 
earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as 
iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and sub- 
dueth all things : and as iron breaketh all these, shall it 
break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest 
the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of 
iron, the kingdom shall be divided ; but there shall be 
in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou 
sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes 
of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the 
kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, 
they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men : but 
they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not 
mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall 
the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never 
be destroyed : and the kingdom shall not be left to 
other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume 
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." 



BOOK OF REVELATION 183 



There is no difficulty about these kingdoms. We 
know what kingdom followed the Babylonian. Nebu- 
chadnezzar was the head of gold, the man of prophecy ; 
then the Medo-Persian, the breast and arms of silver ; 
the Grecian, the belly and thighs of brass; and the 
Roman, which is not ended yet and will be revived 
soon, now, with its legs, feet and toes of iron mixed 
with clay, and the stone struck the image on the feet. 
Verse 44, "And in the days of these ten kings, (the ten 
toes) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom." 

I think we have here the foundation of the two ex- 
pressions "kingdom of God'' and "kingdom of heaven." 
"The God of heaven shall set up his kingdom" : the 
"kingdom of God" for God is the author of it ; "the 
kingdom of heaven" for heaven is the nature of it; 
and "it shall break in pieces and consume all these king- 
doms, and it shall stand for ever." 

Some have told us that the stone, which they all con- 
fess is Christ, for He is called a stone, a foundation 
stone, a chief corner stone, has been pounding away at 
that image ever since Christ was here on earth. That 
is a very strange story. That is not in line with the 
dream and the interpretation. How could a stone 
strike the toes, when there were not toes to strike ? The 
legs were not formed when Christ was here. How could 
a stone strike things which were not ? That is a mistake. 
The ten toes have not been formed yet ; but out of the 
commotion that shall be more manifest in Europe pres- 
ently, there shall come the ten kingdoms, five in the 
land eastern, and five in the western ; and there shall 
be a mighty ruler that shall have control of the whole 
in the days of the Antichrist. Then shall the Lord 
Jesus Christ come in His power and glory and strike 



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STUDIES IN THE 



that thing on the toes and break it to pieces ard scat- 
ter it to the four winds. 

Some people tell us that the kingdom of Christ is 
something spiritual and not of the earth. Did not our 
Lord say, ''My kingdom is not of this world." You 
are not of this world. Of course it is not of this world. 
It does not come from this world at all. The kingdom 
of God is from heaven, it is a heavenly affair. It will 
not come by amalgamating or assimilating the king- 
doms of this world. (They shall be broken in pieces.) 
Our Lord when He shall come in glory shall break in 
pieces the kingdoms of this world. That is not the 
preaching of the Gospel, surely. You never heard of 
a missionary told to go out and smash to pieces the 
heathen. They strangely omit the commission of the 
missionary. It seems to be considered high art to skip 
hard places. Psalm 2 : 8. Now this verse is read 
again, again, and again at missionary meetings : *'Ask 
of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine in- 
heritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy 
possession." There they stop, because the next verse 
does not suit *'Thou shalt break them with a rod of 
iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's 
vessel." That is no kind of a commission for a mis- 
sionary, is it ? Let that stand where it belongs. That 
belongs to the time when Christ returns in His power 
and glory. Then, and not till then will God give the 
nations unto His Son. Not until then will all Japan 
or all India believe the Gospel. There is no promise 
that all nations will beheve before Christ comes. Some 
will believe. The object of preaching the Gospel in 
this age, is so that the church may be gathered out; 
but the kingdom cannot come until Christ comes in 
glory to break up the nations that are against Him. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 185 



Daniel 7 tells the same story from a different stand- 
point. You have not here four metals, you have here 
four wild beasts. Daniel is given a remarkable vision. 
He sees four wild beasts, representing exactly the same 
thing, and the culmination is the same as the gold, sil- 
ver, brass and iron of the Nebuchadnezzar vision. 
There is an overturning and breaking to pieces, and the 
kingdom comes. 

But why should the metals of Nebuchadnezzar's 
vision be represented as wild beasts to Daniel? It is 
simply from a different standpoint. To a man like 
Nebuchadnezzar, gold, silver, brass, iron represent 
power ; to a man of God like Daniel, power in this age 
is beastly. The nations of this world all have beasts on 
their banners: the lion of England, the eagle of the 
United States, and the bear of Russia. Did they know 
what they were doing when they put these on their 
banners? Confessing as loudly as they can, "We are 
a beastly people." And why a beastly people? ''Be- 
cause we roar like the lion, flap our wings and scream 
like the eagle, and growl like the bear." They acknowl- 
edge they are beasts. That is just what they are. That 
is just what power is on earth. 

I wonder what you would say to a question I have 
asked a number of people. I only say what they say. 
Can a man who is a consistent Christian be a politician ? 
The answer I have got invariably is, "I do not know 
how." There seems to be something that won't work 
in these two things. Therei is something in govern- 
ment, whether it be that of City, State or Republic, 
that does not seem to fit in at present with the princi- 
ples and characteristics of a man of God. 

Daniel tells us this whole thing is to be headed by a 
wicked (one. Verse 25, ''And he shall speak great 



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STUDIES IN THE 



words against the most High, and shall wear out the 
saints of the most High, and think to change times and 
laws : and they shall be given into his hand until a 
time and times and the dividing of time." This is the 
same three years and a half we had last week. *'But 
the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his 
dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of 
the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to 
the people of the saints of the most High, whose king- 
dom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall 
serve and obey him." ''Under the whole heaven" that 
certainly means on the whole earth. So you have the 
story of our lesson to-day twice told in the Book of 
Daniel, the second and seventh chapters, told from two 
different standpoints. Let us read on. 

Revelation ii : i6, ''And the four and twenty elders, 
which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their 
faces, and worshipped God, saying. We give thee 
thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast; 
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and 
hast reigned." The living creatures are not seen here. 
Why? I dp not know, unless it be for this reason, the 
living creatures are so identified with Christ, that when 
Christ is seen reigning, they are lost, they are swal- 
lowed up in Him. The living creatures are the Cheru- 
bim. If we are Christians, we are a part of these living 
creatures, a part of Christ. 

Verse i8; "And the nations were angry, and thy 
wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they 
should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward 
unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and 
them that fear thy name, small and great; and 
.shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." 



BOOK OF REVELATION 187 



Why are the nations angry ? 

I was asked to-day by one who I thought knew, 
"What is the difference between a premillennialist and 
a postmillennialist ?" It is wonderful how often we 
hear a thing and do not take it in. Those who look for 
the coming of the Lord at the beginning of the thou- 
sand years are premillenniaHsts. Those who think He 
will not come until the end of the thousand years, are 
postmillenniaHsts. Taking the Bible to mean what it 
says, I do not see how any one can be a postmillennial- 
ist. If you are, God bless you. 

When He comes, what will happen? The nations 
will be angry. Nations get angry now. They say Tur- 
key is getting angry at us. It may mean much or little. 
Why angry? Because they are against God. Why 
does the carnal mind get angry? Because it is at en- 
mity with God. The nations are not to be converted 
before Christ comes. Christ comes, and the nations 
are all in arms against Him. They will cry to the rocks 
and mountains to fall on them. Chapter i : 7, "Behold, 
he cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see him, 
and they also which pierced him : and all kindreds of 
the earth shall wail because of him." A postmillen- 
nialist must believe that Christ will not come until the 
nations are converted. If the nations are converted 
before Christ comes, why do they wail? Why are they 
angry? Is it not as plain as noonday, the nations are 
not converted? They are in wrath, they are angry 
that Christ should come. 

The time of the coming, this coming, is the time of 
the resurrection. Not the resurrection of the ungodly, 
but the resurrection of the righteous, the beginning of 
the thousand years of peace and prosperity. "Blessed 
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection : 



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STUDIES IN THE 



on such the second death hath no power, but they shall 
be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with 
him a thousand years/' 

Should you as a Christian, die to-day, you would be 
instantly in glory with Christ, unspeakably happy with 
Christ in Paradise. "Absent from the body, present 
with the Lord." But you do not get your wages, 
crowns, or rewards when you die. Those who are in 
glory are waiting for us, that together, when we meet 
before Christ's judgment seat, we may get our wages. 
If we are saved, we are saved through Jesus Christ, 
and equally saved. There are no degrees in salvation. 
But all saved people will be judged according to their 
works, and rewarded according to their works. There 
are degrees in glory. All are equally saved, but re- 
warded according to their works. If they are lost, they 
are lost because they have rejected Christ. Some peo- 
ple say heaven is the same heaven for everybody and 
hell is the same hell. That is not so. There are de- 
grees of rewards and degrees of punishment. And at 
this time the saints will be rewarded, but "he will de- 
stroy them which destroy the earth," and that know not 
God. 2 Thess. i : 7 to 10, "And to you who are trou- 
bled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed 
from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire 
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that 
obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : Who 
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the 
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 

If then He will let His wrath fall upon the ungodly, 
after the church is taken, although there may be many 
conversions, it is for the punishment of the living na- 
tions. 

Make a note of Joshua 3: 11 and 13, "Behold, the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 189 

ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth 
over before you into Jordan. And it shall come to 
pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that 
bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, 
shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of 
Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down 
from above; and they shall stand upon an heap." 
Chapter 4, verse 24, "That all the people of the earth 
might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty : 
that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever." 
Here we read concerning the ark, the ark of the cove- 
nant, when Jordan was divided and Israel was brought 
into the promised land. These things were wrought 
that all might know that God is the living and the true 
God. In the last verse of our lesson we read about the 
ark of his testament, "And the temple of God was 
opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the 
ark of his testament : and there were lightnings, and 
voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great 
hail." 

Let me give you one clause that has helped me the 
past few days. I have noticed this, that the first re- 
corded utterance of Christ is in these words, "Wist ye 
not that I must be about my Father's business ?" Luke 
2:49. along with that the last recorded utter- 

ance, Acts 1 : 8, "unto the uttermost part of the earth." 
About my Father's business unto the uttermost part of 
the earth. Some of us are looking for a company of 
people who meet together just to be about our Father's 
business, Sunday, Monday, and every day of the week, 
to reach out the Gospel to others, so that the Lord may 
come. Let each of us ask God to help us to be ever 
about our Father's business to the ends of the earth. 
May the Lord grant us to be living that kind of a life. 



STUDIES IN THE 



O God we do thank Thee that the time will come 
when the kingdoms of this world shall become the 
kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And O God, 
lay it upon our hearts to hasten that time. Help us to 
be about our Father's business now. May we this day, 
the rest of this day, do nothing that is not our heavenly 
Father's business, and may nothing be tolerated in our 
lives that is not right. May we never cease praying, 
'Xord send forth laborers into Thy fields." Some can 
go, some cannot, but we all can pray. Lord take us, 
make us manifestly Thy people, waiting for Thy com- 
ing, and living to hasten it. 



Chapter 12. 



This being the first Sunday of the new month, let 
me give you a Httle statement of progress in missions. 
You remember our two-fold object is to know God and 
to make God known. This is the only object we have, 
whether we meet here or in my own church, or in the 
various Bible classes, to know God and to live to make 
Him known. He has given us of missionary money, 
the past three months, over $8,000, all of which has 
come, as we have told you, voluntarily, freely and un- 
solicited, we simply tell the story. Of this eight thou- 
sand dollars, the various Bible classes gave over two 
thousand, and my own congregation of two hundred 
people gave $1,250. I was so amazed at the figures, 
that I went all through the books again to see whether 
I was right, and I found it even so, and a little more. 
With what has come in the past few days, they have 
given over thirteen hundred dollars. We thank the 
Lord for the work of His Spirit on our hearts, and 
wonder what He might do if we were wholly His con- 
cerning His service. 

The expense here, since last September has been the 
expense of the hall, some books and some printing, 
amounting to about $900, and of that amount your of- 
ferings have come to $700. The committee have had 
the privilege of paying $200 of the $900. I heard one of 
the committee say it was one of the best investments 
he had ever made. At the present moment our current 
expenses are perhaps ten or fifteen dollars in arrears. 
During the next two months, to the end of May, at 

191 



192 STUDIES IN THE 

which time all the Bible classes close, as sixteen services 
a week up to that time is all one can stand, we hope 
that the Lord may turn the hearts of the people so that 
at the end of the two months we may have a surplus 
for missions. I should say that the amounts handed in 
privately for missions have been several hundred dol- 
lars. 

Before beginning our lesson for to-day, another very 
interesting letter has come in which I will take the time 
to look at a moment. It is very difficult, at least it 
seems very difficult to make one's self understood, and 
therefore we are glad to have these questions, for al- 
though we may aim to make it as plain as possible, 
there seems to be something in the air, something 
around us that endeavors to give people a wrong im- 
pression. Let us go to the book. Test everything by 
the word. The letter reads, "Did you mean to say last 
Sabbath, when you spoke of wilful sinning, after hav- 
ing knowledge of the truth, that it does not make any 
difference how much a person sins after accepting 
Christ, he is saved all the same ?" I do not think I ever 
said that. I am sure I did not mean to say that. The 
writer goes on to say, "I, myself, cannot see why the 
passage in Hebrews does not apply to the saved souls 
of sinners. Perhaps you would say that continuance 
in wilful sin proves the individual had not been con- 
verted?" Yes, I think that is what I would say. There 
is no salvation there, so far as we are able to judge. 
If a man is living an openly sinful life, persistmg 
therein, he gives no evidence, so far as we can judge, 
that he'is a saved man. This verse may help some one, 
(i John 2 : 19) "They went out from us, but they were 
not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no 



BOOK OF REVELATION 193 



doubt have continued with us : but they went out, that 
they might be made manifest that they were not all of 
us." I John 2:1, ''These things write I unto you, that 
ye sin not/' We are forbidden to sin. There is no 
permission to sin. We are not to sin. Surely the child 
of God makes many mistakes. I think we might call 
them sins. We are apt to make light of sins and call 
them mistakes. Look at what Scripture calls sin. 
Proverbs 24:9, ''The thought of fooHshness is sin." 
James 4: 17, "To him that knoweth to do good, and 
doeth it not, to him it is sin." "To him it is sin," not 
a mistake, but sin. i John 5:17, "All unrighteousness 
is sin." I think we had better just call them all sins. 
Whatever is not right, is wrong. Whatever is not holy 
is a sin. Spurgeon used to say, "Whatever the Lord 
Jesus Christ would not say, or think, or do, that is a 
sin." That is a very apt way to put it. I think he is 
right. The child of God makes many mistakes, com- 
mits many sins, for he is a learner in God's school. 
"Can one be a child of God and continue in a known 
wrong?" If he is truly a child of God, and does evil 
for a time, I am sure the Lord will bring to repentance 
and to Himself any such soul. "Can he be a child of 
God and go on in wilful sinning?" I don't see how he 
can be. But when the sinner repents, (Romans 8:1) 
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them 
which are in Christ Jesus." That is what the Lord 
has shown me. If we truly receive Christ, we are 
under the blood, we are children of God. Now, if we 
are overtaken in a sin, as Simon Peter was, that does 
not prove that we are not a child of God, for every 
child of God may do wrong ; but a true child of God 
will do as Peter did, and with tears and true penitence 
return to God. He who keeps along sinning and gives 
13 



194 



STUDIES IN THE 



no evidence of repentance, that person is not a child of 
God. You might read a few sentences in last Sunday's 
report : "Take one word of warning. You cannot pos- 
sibly, though you may be saved, enjoy fellowship with 
God while you knowingly tolerate any sin in your life. 
There is the cause of great lack of fellowship, and a 
great lack of joy, and it all lies with ourselves. Let the 
saved man turn to God with his whole heart, and put 
away every known sin, then he can walk with God in 
fellowship. 'He cleanseth us from all unrighteous- 
ness.' If you are looking for joy and peace while you 
tolerate what you know is wrong, there is no use in it. 
You may seek peace as long as you live and never find 
it. You must put away the wrong thing and then walk 
humbly with God. Let us be in fellowship." Let no 
one say, please do not say, that I ever said that you can 
sin as much as you please and be a Christian. If we 
are children of God, let us turn away from every 
known sin and walk humbly with God. Let us walk in 
the light. 

Let us turn to the lesson for the afternoon. Revela- 
tion 12. As we go on now with our studies, remember 
that we are looking into the details of the last three 
years and a half before our Lord shall come back in 
glory, the last half of Daniel's week, the last part of 
the great tribulation, just before our Lord's return in 
glory. *'And there appeared a great wonder in heaven ; 
a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her 
feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars : and 
she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and 
pained to be delivered. And there appeared another 
wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, 
having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns 
upon his head. And his tail drew the third part of the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 195 



stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth : and 
the dragon stood before the woman which was ready 
to be dehvered, for to devour her child as soon as it 
was born. And she brought forth a man child, who 
was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her 
child was caught up unto God, and to His throne. And 
the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a 
place prepared of God, that they should feed her there 
a thousand two hundred and three score days'' — 1,260 
days. That period of time gives the key to the time of 
the events of our lesson. The story of to-day is a 
wonderful story ; yet I believe we can get light upon it 
which will help us very much. It begins with a story 
of a woman. Just try and imagine the whole thing. 
These are signs and symbols, but they are explained. 
Here is a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon 
under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve 
stars. And there is a child given to this woman, and 
the devil seeks to kill that child, but the child is caught 
up to God. There are others who are killed, the seed 
of the woman, and others who continue on the earth. 
The devil tries to kill them, but God takes care of 
them. And there is war up in the air, Michael and the 
devil contending, but Michael is victorious and the 
devil is cast down to the earth, and the cry is, "Rejoice, 
ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them" because the 
devil is cast out of the air. 

Now what can we make of all this. Let us remem- 
ber that in the fourth and fifth chapters the church is 
taken up. This is after the time of the taking up of the 
church. The woman clothed with the sun, the moon 
under her feet and having a crown of twelve stars 
makes us think of a dream one had once away back in 
Genesis. The whole Bible is one book, and if we only 



196 STUDIES IN THE 



believed it, we would not have so much trouble with 
Revelation. I have often thought it would be nice f or 
a number to meet together just to study the word, take 
up the facts all the way through and catechise one an- 
other about them. If we could begin at the beginning 
and read it all through, and keep the connections all in 
our minds, I think it would be the plainest of books. 
We have with us a teacher, the Holy Spirit. 

This woman takes us to Genesis, and we read that 
a man dreamed one night that he saw the sun and moon 
and eleven stars all bowing down to him. And he told 
the dream to his brothers and father. His brothers 
did not like that kind of dream. They saw what was 
in it. They did not need Joseph to tell them what the 
dream meant. Even his father did not like it. His 
father said, "Do you mean to say I and your brothers 
are all going to bow down to you?" The time came 
when that dream was actually fulfilled. So Joseph's 
dream of the sheaves was a duplicate of the other 
dream. Joseph was in one sense the head of the twelve 
tribes, the father of the two men, Ephraim and Manas- 
seh. Our Lord came from Juda, not from Joseph, but 
the birthright was Joseph's. Therefore there is a rea- 
son why the dream of Joseph should be associated with 
this story. "For Judah prevailed above his brethren, 
and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright 
was Joseph's." i Chron. 5 : 2. 

Now we are coming in this story to the time of Is- 
rael's redemption, to the time of the inheritance, to the 
time when it shall be manifest whose is the birthright. 
And this woman is certainly suggestive of Israel. It 
is the time when God will be dealing specially with Is- 
rael. When any particular corner of the earth is to the 
front in our days, the papers get full of it, and give 



BOOK OF REVELATION 197 



their columns to that particular topic. Now the time 
has not come when the newspapers give all the first 
page to Israel, not yet ; but a little later we may find 
it, if we are here, or the people will find it, who are 
here. A little later Israel will be to the front again, 
and they will be the great people in whom the earth 
will be specially interested. Then they will see the sig- 
nificance of the sun-clothed woman. The sun certainly 
refers to the Sun of Righteousness, clothed with the 
sun, clothed with righteousness. ''The Lord is a sun 
and shield." You and I will shine like the sun in the 
kingdom of our Father. The moon may represent 
ordinances, or those things which reflect Christ. The 
twelve stars may mean the twelve tribes or the twelve 
apostles. So the whole story concerns Israel. 

What about this child ? The woman is in travail and 
pained to be delivered. We cannot understand this if 
we have not read Isaiah 26: 17. 'Xike as a woman 
with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, 
is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs ; so have we been 
in thy sight, O Lord." It is the time of the deliver- 
ance of the earth. Israel is to be the deliverer, or Is- 
rael's child. Isaiah 66:5, ''Hear the word of the 
Lord, ye that tremble at his word: Your brethren 
that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, 
said. Let the Lord be glorified : but he shall appear 
to your joy, and they shall be ashamed." Once more 
in the Prophecy of Micah we find a reference to the 
same facts. Here in the fourth chapter and tenth 
verse and in the fifth chapter third verse, you get light 
upon this woman's child, 4 : 10, "Be in pain, and labour 
to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in 
travail : for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, 
and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even 



STUDIES IN THE 



to Babylon ; there shalt thou be delivered ; there the 
Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine 
enemies." 5 : 3, "Therefore will he give them up, until 
the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth : 
then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the 
children of Israel." Take one other word from our 
Lord's words the night before He was crucified, the 
sixteenth chapter of John, 14, 15, 16, and 17. I have 
no doubt all were a little surprised when we were 
memorizing this chapter when we came to this verse, 
in the midst of those beautiful words our Lord was 
saying. "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and 
again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go 
to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among 
themselves, what is this that he saith unto us, A little 
while, and ye shall not see me : and again, a little while, 
and ye shall see me : and. Because I go to the Father? 
They said therefore. What is this that he saith, A little 
while? We cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus 
knew that! they were desirous to ask Him, and said 
unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of what I 
said, A little while, and ye shall not see me : and again, 
a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I 
say unto you. That ye shall weep and lament, but the 
world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but 
your sorrow shall be turned into joy." (Now mark.) 
"A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because 
her hour is come : but as soon as she is delivered of the 
child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy 
that a man is born into the world. And ye now there- 
fore have sorrow : but I will see you again, and your 
heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from 
you." 

There is light upon these days, the story of Israel's 



BOOK OF REVELATION 199 



travail, Israel's tribulation, just before the coming of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Who, then, is the woman? The woman suggests 
Israel, with Christ as her righteousness, all things 
under her feet, the twelve tribes and the twelve apos- 
tles to the front, and the kingdom about to come. 

Who is the child ? Those who are slain at that time 
for their testimony. Those who are slain for Christ's 
sake. In Armenia you have three classes of people 
probably, among those persecuted there. There have 
been those who have been killed instantly, not given 
time to say, whether they would accept Mohammed or 
not. Others have been persecuted and gone on some 
distance through tribulation and then slain; while 
others have gone all the way through. It will be just 
so in the time of the Antichrist, those who will be put 
to death instantly, those who will go some distance 
through the tribulation and then be killed, and those 
who will go all the way through. This child includes 
perhaps all of these, at least some of them who will die 
for Christ. You will say, "How about being caught 
up?" Well they are with the Lord. You say, 'The 
man child is to rule the nations with a rod of iron." In 
one verse in the second Psalm we read, ''Ask of me, 
and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, 
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; thou shalt 
dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Rev. 2 : 26 
and 27, "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my 
works unto the end, to him will I give power over the 
nations : and he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; as 
the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers." 
Here again the man child is to rule with a rod of iron, 
and once more in Revelation 19, "And out of his mouth 



200 



STUDIES IN THE 



goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the 
nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron." 
When our Lord comes back in His glory, He shall rule 
with a rod of iron. 

There is something peculiar about this millennial 
reign that is coming. It will be a reign of peace and 
prosperity on the whole earth, but a reign of swift 
judgment on sin, so terrible, so swift, like that visited 
on Ananias and Sapphira, that all will submit to Him. 
Judgment upon the enemies who openly rebel against 
Him will be so swift, that they will smother their re- 
bellion, keep it in their hearts until the devil comes out 
of the pit. Psalm 66 : 3 and 18 : 44. 

Who is the man child ? The martyred redeemed of 
Israel, who will share with Christ in this reign. These 
martyrs will share it along with the church of Christ. 
Then do you think possibly the man child includes 
Christ and all His redeemed ? In this lesson to-day, it 
is the redeemed of Israel. In the promise to the over- 
comer, it is the Church, but both are named with Christ. 
This woman is not Mary the Mother of Jesus. Christ 
was born away back in Bethlehem. It certainly seems 
to indicate that the man child is Christ who came from 
Juda, the seed of David, along with all who will be with 
Him in His millennial reign. 

Why should the devil hurt this man child? Because 
that is his business — to kill people. He is a murderer 
from the beginning. From the beginning, away back 
in the Garden of Eden, he inspired Cain to kill Abel. 
He tried to kill all the Israelites in Egypt. He tried to 
kill all the children in Bethlehem when Christ was 
born. It is the devil's business to kill people. He has 
been at it ever since Abel was killed by Cain. Our 
newspapers indicate how much he is pushing the busi- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 201 



ness now, this killing people. The devil will at this 
time try to kill this child, but God w^ill take the child 
out of Satan's power. Satan cannot hurt any child of 
God, even though he kills the body. We read a little 
later that they overcame by dying. They overcame by 
the word of God. There are people who live by having 
the mark of the beast, by becoming worldly. They get 
along in the world by conforming to the world. Those 
who die rather than conform to the w^orld, they over- 
come. How do they overcome? By dying. To them 
that overcome, death is victory, for to the child of God, 
death takes us out of the body to be present with the 
Lord, and gives us a part in the first resurrection. Let 
us die for Christ if need be. 

''And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto 
the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought 
forth the man child. And to the woman were given 
two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the 
wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for 
a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the 
serpent." 

Where is the wilderness, where God will take care 
of Israel in these days? He knows. He has a place. 
We do know this. In the days of x\hab when Elijah 
was all alone, the Lord hid him and took care of him. 
He only served God and he almost said, ''What will 
you do without me ?" And the Lord told him to go and 
anoint his successor. He was also told He had seven 
thousand hidden ones that had not bowed the knee to 
Baal. If it is His pleasure that we die, that is sure 
gain. If it is His pleasure that we stay on the earth. 
He knovv^s how to take care of us, to protect us. He 
hid Jeremiah and Baruch that the king could not find 
them. He will hide us with Himself in glory or some 



202 



STUDIES IN THE 



place on the earth. He will have a way of taking care 
of Israel on the earth in these days. 

Verse 7, ''And there was war in heaven: Michael 
and his angels fought against the dragon; and the 
dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not ; neither 
was their place found any more in heaven." We read in 
Ephesians 6: 12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and 
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against 
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spirit- 
ual wickedness in high places." Did you ever think 
that possibly the reason why you feel so blue some 
days, you cannot seem to rise above your circumstances, 
you cannot explain, — did you ever think that it might 
be due to evil spirits about us ? It is sometimes due to 
our own physical condition, but sometimes it depends 
upon that which is around us in the air. At one time 
Daniel only began to pray and Gabriel came to him in- 
stantly. But in Daniel 10: 10, there is a different story 
which gives us light, perhaps, upon this war in heaven. 
(Read from the tenth verse to the end of the chapter.) 
Now friends, this is as true for you as it was to Daniel. 
From the day that you earnestly prayed to God, your 
prayer was heard. You have not got the answer yet? 
There's a good reason for it. Daniel only began pray- 
ing and Gabriel came to Daniel in a moment, while he 
was praying. On another occasion he was hindered 
three weeks while evil spirits had conflict with him 
and Michael the archangel came to help him. In Jude 
we read about Michael the archangel and the devil 
contending about the body of Moses. What will be the 
bone of contention here? It seems to me, the taking 
up of the saints. These Jewish martyrs will lead to 
this conflict up in the air between the devil and Michael 
and the angels ; but notice that Michael will be vie- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 203 



torious, and the devil will be cast down out of the air 
to the earth. We think there is devil enough around 
now, with all his evil works everywhere. There is 
surely ; but what a time it will be when he is here as he 
never has been hitherto. He will be doing his very 
worst, because he hath but a short time. And how will 
he do concerning those who are still living? He will 
try to kill them all. 

Verse 15, ''And the serpent cast out of his mouth 
v/ater as a flood after the woman, that he might cause 
her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth 
helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, 
and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of 
his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, 
and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, 
which keep the commandments of God, and have the 
testimony of Jesus Christ." Now we only need to read 
Jeremiah 46 and 47 to see the meaning of this conflict. 
The armies of Babylon were there compared to this 
conflict. In this time of which we read, the devil will 
have stirred up the armies of the earth to wipe off Is- 
rael from the face of the earth, but God will provide 
a deliverance for the woman. By the word of the 
devil and by the power of the devil, by his lies, and by 
his deceit, the nations will be stirred up against God, 
even as they are stirred to-day, and they will war 
against Israel, but God will help her, actually have the 
earth open her mouth as He did in the case of Abiram, 
Korah and Dathan. God will help His people and 
overthrow the enemies of His people. 

We want to take as our last word verses 10 and 11. 
But before we come to that, let us go over the ground 
a little. This is one of the most perplexing chapters 
in this whole book. But it seems it ought to be per- 



204 



STUDIES IN THE 



f ectly clear. It seems to be like this : At this time of 
which we are reading, the beginning of the last three 
and a half years of the tribulation, Israel being spe- 
cially to the front, the nations hating her, inspired by 
the devil so to do, attempting to wipe her off the face 
of the earth, trying to exterminate her, as Pharaoh 
tried to do, as kings have tried to do ere this, the na- 
tions attempting to exterminate Israel, God will inter- 
fere in her behalf. While many will be slain, some will 
live through the tribulation, and at the very worst point 
of it, Christ will- appear in His glory for their deliver- 
ance. Here is our lesson: This same adversary is 
working against God with all his might, and against the 
people of God. He is doing the worst he is allowed to 
do at this time. We are either overcome by him, or we 
are overcoming him. Take the facts given in the tenth 
verse, let me read it, ''And I heard a loud voice saying 
in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and 
the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ : 
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which ac- 
cused them before our God day and night." I say let 
the assurance that the kingdoms of this world shall be- 
come the kingdom of our Lord so inspire us that we 
shall have no fellowship with any of the works of 
darkness, but shall overcome Satan and his hosts. And 
let me this resurrection day pass on a thought, Phil. 
3: lo, II, ''That I may know him, and the power of 
his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, 
being made conformable to his death ; if by any means 
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." This 
is what I have been saying about it. It fits right in 
with the remarks with which we want to close. What 
was the Apostle Paul seeking in this verse? Was he 
striving to attain unto the resurrection ? I frankly say, 



BOOK OF REVELATION 205 



I think not. Was he striving to be saved? We say 
no, because any one who accepts Christ is saved. We 
have eternal Hfe. Our sins are forgiven us. Was he 
striving to attain to the first resurrection ? I think not. 
He did not need to. Don't you want to take part in it ? 
Yes. If we have received Christ, we are sure of a part 
in the first resurrection. It is included in the promise, 
it is part of our redemption. We do not need to strive 
for it. What was Paul striving for? I believe he was 
striving for such a life as we read of here, complete 
separation from every dead person and thing. It is a 
combination of words found nowhere else in the Bible. 
I believe Paul had no reference to his body. He 
wanted to live so separate from every dead thing that 
he might glorify God, he meant earthly things, and 
warns us to turn away from these things because we 
are children of God, redeemed by the precious blood, 
having nothing to do with all the dead things around 
about us. Away with all formality or going in worldly 
ways. Stand separate from every dead thing and every 
dead person. God knows how to take care of His peo- 
ple,, and He will use us all He can. The Lord give us 
the victory by the word of His power. 



Chapter 13. 



I will take the time to answer two questions. 

" *He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.' 
Does this mean that all the Old Testament saints rose 
from among the dead?" When Christ rose, Scripture 
does not say all the saints rose. Scripture says that 
many bodies of the saints arose. That is all I know 
about it. Of course they must have been some of the 
Old Testament saints. It does not say all. We have 
no right to believe all. 

"Please explain about the body and bride of Christ. 
If we are the body, who is the bride?" A great many 
wise people are writing about that matter now. It is a 
little misty. It is not quite clear. Take what is plainly 
written, and hold fast to that, and what is not plainly 
written hold for light upon it. We are the body of 
Christ. That is clear. That is emphatic. There is no 
doubt about that. The church is the body of Christ. 
Can the church be the body and the bride also ? Some 
think not. I remember the story of Eve. Eve was a 
part of Adam's body. Adam said concerning Eve, 
''This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." Eve 
was in a sense Adam's body. She was also Adam's 
bride. Paul uses the story of Adam and Eve and says, 
''This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning 
Christ and the church." If Eve was Adam's body as 
well as his bride, there is no reason why the church 
should not be the bride as well as the body of Christ. 
I do not insist upon that. Some Bible students believe 
that the bride of Christ is an election out of Israel. 

206 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



207 



Isaiah speaks of Israel married to the Lord. Well, we 
will not quarrel over that. Let us thank God with all 
our hearts that having received the Lord Jesus Christ 
we are as much parts of His body as our hands are 
members of our bodies. There is no difficulty about 
that. If we just receive that, and hold that fast, it will 
fill us with great joy; and if Israel shall turn out to 
be the bride, an election out of Israel, we know this 
much, we shall be nearer than the bride. What you 
are sure of, hold fast to. We are sure of this, the 
church is the body of Christ. It will open up grandly 
some of these days. 

We turn to the lesson of the afternoon. Revelation 
13. This chapter is divided into two sections: one 
concerning the beast, and one concerning the false 
prophet. In the twelfth chapter the devil was very 
prominent. In the thirteenth you have his partners, 
and in the twelfth and thirteenth you have the trinity, 
the trinity against God, the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit, the trinity of the devil, the beast, and the 
false prophet. In the end of chapter 19 you find the 
beast and the false prophet go to the lake of fire. In 
chapter 20 you find the devil in the same place. They 
are an evil trinity. 

Revelation 13 : i to 10 : ''And I stood upon the sand 
of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, hav- 
ing seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten 
crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, 
and his feet w^ere as the feet of a bear, and his mouth 
as the mouth of a lion : and the dragon gave him his 
power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw 
one of his heads as it were wounded to death ; and his 
deadly wound was healed: and all the world won- 



208 



STUDIES IN THE 



dered after the beast. And they worshipped the 
dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they 
worshipped the beast, saying, Who is hke unto the 
beast? who is able to make war with him? And there 
was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and 
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to con- 
tinue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth 
in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and 
His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it 
was given unto him to make war with the saints, and 
to overcome them : and power was given him over all 
kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell 
upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not 
written in the book of Hfe of the Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let 
him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into 
captivity : he that killeth with the sword must be killed 
with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of 
the saints." 

From the Garden of Eden down to Paradise re- 
stored, the devil is manifest as the enemy of God and 
of Christ, and of God's people, and there have been 
many leaders under his control, manifesting his char- 
acter. Cain was of that wicked one and slew his 
brother, Abel. With Cain he began, so far as man is 
concerned, to turn them from God, to turn them 
against God and against His Christ. Pharaoh and his 
priests, his magicians, are samples of the beast and the 
false prophet ; Ahab and Jezebel ; Absalom and Ahith- 
ophel; and those of to-day who have been doing the 
devil's work lately in such power in Armenia. They 
are all in the same line as these two of whom we are 
reading in this lesson. But the worst are yet to come, 
the two in this chapter. All these names I have men- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 209 



tioned, with many others Hke a Nero and a CaHgula, 
will be rolled up and summed up in these two, until 
Christ shall come and destroy them in the lake of fire. 
Let me anticipate a future study, and read that state- 
ment. Revelation 19 : 19 and 20, ''And I saw the beast, 
and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered 
together to make war against him that sat on the horse, 
and against his army. And the beast was taken, and 
with him the false prophet that wrought miracles be- 
fore him, with which he had deceived them that had 
received the mark of the beast, and them that wor- 
shipped his image. These both were cast alive into a 
lake of fire burning with brimstone." That is the end 
of these two men, of whom we are reading in this 
chapter to-day. 

The length of the period during which they shall do 
their work, gives the key to the time when it shall be 
done. The period is mentioned as forty-two months, 
verse 5. We have already met that period in the pre- 
vious two chapters four times. In chapter 11 it is 
spoken of in verses 2 and 3 as forty-two months and as 
a thousand two hundred and threescore days, the same 
period, the period of the two witnesses, God's two wit- 
nesses who shall stand for Him in the days of this 
great tribulation. We had the same period in last 
week's lesson, when Israel shall be wonderfully pre- 
served, notwithstanding the devil's hatred. Verses 6 
and 14 of chapter 12. And so we say the length of the 
period gives the key to the time when this beast and 
false prophet shaH be manifest, the last three years 
and a half ere the Lord comes back with His saints. 
I have referred to two or three passages concerning 
this. I am not sure that I have read them to you. Let 
me read them to you. Jeremiah 30. Mark carefully 
14 



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the very words. I will read from verse two : "Thus 
speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee 
all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. 
For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will 
bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, 
saith the Lord : and I will cause them to return to 
the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall pos- 
sess it. And these are the words that the Lord spake 
concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus 
saith the Lord ; We have heard a voice of trembling, 
of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see 
whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do 
I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman 
in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness ? Alas ! 
for that day is great, so that none is like it : it is even 
the time of Jacob's trouble ; but he shall be saved out 
of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the 
Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy 
neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no 
more serve themselves of him : But they shall serve 
the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I 
will raise up unto them." That is the story of this time, 
the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out 
of it. Let me read one other passage from the Old 
Testament, Daniel 12, the first two verses, "And at that 
time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which 
standeth for the children of thy people: (Michael the 
archangel who is spoken of as caring for Israel) and 
there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since 
there was a nation even to that same time : and at that 
time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall 
be found written in the book. And many of them that 
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever- 
lasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 211 



tempt." A third reference from the Hps of our Lord 
Jesus will be sufficient upon this matter just now, Mat- 
thew 24: 21, ''For then shall be great tribulation, such 
as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, 
no, nor ever shall be." Verse 29: "Immediately after 
the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, 
and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars 
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens 
shall be shaken : And then shall appear the sign of the 
Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the tribes of 
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man 
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great 
glory." 

How do you know that this time has not passed? 
Because the resurrection of the dead has not yet taken 
place. Is there any other way that you know that this 
time has not yet come? Our Lord Jesus Christ has not 
yet come in His power and glory. Immediately after 
the tribulation of these days will the Lord come in His 
power and establish righteousness on the earth. This 
is the time, then, of Israel's trouble, of Israel's deliv- 
erance. It is very interesting to notice in our days the 
many references to the history of the Jews. I hold in 
my hand the April number of The Jewish Era, and 
there is in it an article taken from the Review of Re- 
views of January. I will give you a little from the be- 
ginning of it. This is an article translated by a Jew 
from the Jewish Gazette, entitled "A Jewish Kingdom 
in Palestine." 

"This writer places the time of the Jewish deliver- 
ance in the year 1900. In brief he says, 'the disturb- 
ances in Turkey will continue until Christians will be 
massacred and a Mohammedan revolution take place ; 
the Sultan will be murdered and all European powers 



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STUDIES IN THE 



press into Constantinople. Anarchy will reign over 
the whole land, and an International Commission will 
be chosen to restrain the blood-thirsty Turks from 
their deeds, and to maintain order. (This is a pro- 
phetic outlook, you see.) The Turkish provinces will 
be divided, and turned over to different European 
powers for administrative control, while Asia Minor, 
Syria and Palestine will remain under the supervision 
of the International Commission. In the latter two 
provinces an uprising will take place which will surpass 
all others in cruelty The Commission will be power- 
less to do anything in the matter. The United States 
will demand redress for her missionaries that have 
been murdered and all diplomats will await the result 
impatiently, the people becoming very restless desiring 
to see the end. Finally, embassadors are called in to 
give advice. Lord Adams opens the conference, and a 
resolution is offered to found a kingdom. Russia 
makes the proposition to give the land to the Jews, 
The English embassador asks in astonishment, 'Will 
the Jews go? What will our neighbors the Roths- 
childs say? Will they leave the banking houses and 
boards of trade and take ship for Canaan?' Lord 
Adams says, 'I have a contract in my possession from 
the three financial kings, Rothschild, Baron Hirsch 
and Baron Barnato, who have agreed to lease the Syr- 
ian province for ninety-nine years. Through this 
syndicate they will bear all the expenses and bring the 
Jews to the Holy Land.' The English embassador 
laughs, 'ha! ha! That is patriotism in the right di- 
rection, as it will result in profit. I would like to have 
a share in the game.' The minister of war says, 'What 
steps must be taken to found the kingdom?' Answer, 
'A conference will be called to elect the person who 



BOOK OF REVELATION 213 



shall reign over Judah and Israel.' Lord Adams says, 
'My opinion is the king must be a Jew by all means.' 
Lord Balfour : 'That is not necessary, he only needs 
to be greatly devoted to them, and have their confi- 
dence. He must know their customs and character. 
It is impossible to find a Jew whom all Jews would 
like, and who would be free from envy and jealousy. 
He 'must be one who is recognized by all classes of 
Jews and does not lack wisdom. To be a king of the 
Jews more is needed than to be a well-built man of fine 
appearance. He must be wide-awake and up to date 
in the affairs of the present time in other lands beside 
his own. He must be a multimillionaire in order not 
to be bribed by the money kings— and their is only one 
in all Europe.' Lord Adams answered, 'You^ mean 
Lord Roseberry, as he has millions to squander.' The 
finale is that England nominates Lord Roseberry, who 
is unanimously elected king over Israel in Palestine." 

The interesting thing of it is, it is so wonderfully m 
the line of the prophecies. This is not so, it is sup- 
posed to be so by and by. Papers are written every- 
where running on these lines, and these times we are 
reading of in Revelation is the time of Israel's restora- 
tion, because when Christ comes back with His saints 
He will find them in awful trouble in their own land. 
The deliverance will come at this period. 

To understand concerning this beast requires some 
previous Bible study. We will turn to Daniel 7. In 
that chapter you have a repetition from a different 
standpoint of the story in Daniel second chapter. In 
Daniel 7 the prophet sees four wild beasts coming up 
out of the sea. The principal sea of Scripture is the 
Mediterranean Sea, and it is quite possible when you 
read of the sea the reference is chiefly to that sea, 



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around which these kingdoms were. There may not 
be any reference to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, but 
just the sea around the known countries of that time. 
Daniel in his vision sees coming up out of the sea these 
wild beasts. And then he says, upon the fourth beast, 
verse 8, "I considered the horns, and, behold, there 
came up among them another little horn, before whom 
there were three of the first horns plucked up by the 
roots : and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the 
eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." 
Verse 25, ''And he shall speak great words against the 
most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most 
High, and think to change times and laws : and they 
shall be given into his hand until a time and times and 
the dividing of time." Here is evidently the same per- 
son of whom we were reading in Revelation 11 and 12, 
and the same period of time, — a time and times and di- 
viding of time, three years and a half, twelve hundred 
and sixty days, forty-two months ; and this period is 
only found in Daniel and Revelation, twice in Daniel 
and five times in Revelation. We will read on, ''But 
the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his 
dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end. 
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of 
the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to 
the people of the saints of the most High, whose king- 
dom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall 
serve and obey him." Your Bible would be a much 
plainer Bible if you understood the kingdom, whenever 
it is referred to, to be a kingdom on the earth. The 
Bible is full of a kingdom on this earth. As I have 
just read to you, "And the kingdom and dominion, and 
the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven/' 
that certainly means on the whole earth. Whatever 



BOOK OF REVELATION 215 



may come in the immediate or near future, there is a 
time coming when this long sin-cursed planet in which 
we live shall be the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
when all business shall be done in His name. There 
shall be war no more, and prosperity shall be the order 
of the day, with righteousness and peace everywhere ; 
and we, if we are children of God, shall in those days 
be in our glorified bodies reigning on the earth. Prob- 
ably some of our children, or children's children may 
be living on the earth in those days ; but they will have 
to pass through a terrible ordeal before they come to it, 
in the days of the Antichrist. 

In Daniel 11 : 36 to 38 you have the same person. 
''And the king shall do according to his will ; and he 
shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every 
god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God 
of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accom- 
plished: for that that is determined shall be done. 
Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the 
desire of women (that is Christ, for whom all the Jew- 
ish women looked) nor regard any god : for he shall 
magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he 
honor the God of forces : and a god whom his fathers 
knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and 
with precious stones, and pleasant things." ''Neither 
shall he regard the God of his fathers some think 
from that statement that he has got to be a Jew. It is 
not very clear unless that statement makes it clear. 
"He shall honor the God of forces." Forces, electric- 
ity, power, margin "munitions." He shall not honor the 
living God, but honor power. Power shall be honored 
by this Antichrist, this wicked one. 

Second Thess. 2. Here is the story of one, (verse 
4) "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that 



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STUDIES IN THE 



is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as 
God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself 
that he is God." What will happen to him? (Verse 
8.) "Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the 
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, 
and shall destroy v/ith the brightness of his com- 
ing: even him, whose coming is after the working 
of, Satan with all power and signs and lying won- 
ders." There is the same story in Daniel 7:11, 2 
Thess. 2, and Revelation 13. We called him the Anti- 
christ, and yet the word ''Antichrist" is not found in 
Scripture except in four places. The Apostle John is 
the only one who uses the word ''Antichrist." In the 
passages we have read he is called the man of sin, the 
lawless one, the wicked one. Let us look at the pas- 
sage in which John calls him Antichrist, i John 2 : 18, 
"Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have 
heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there 
many antichrists." Verse 22, "Who is a liar but he 
that denieth that Jesus is the Christ ? He is antichrist, 
that denieth the Father and the Son." Some would 
have us believe that the Church of Rome, the Roman 
Catholic Church is the Antichrist. Wherever there 
may be of Antichrist in the Roman Catholic Church, 
there is probably just as much in the Protestant 
Church. The Church of Rome denies neither the Fa- 
ther nor the Son. She makes something of the Father 
and the Son. It is a larger story than any church so 
called. Once more in i John 4 : 3, "Every spirit that 
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is 
not of God : and this is that spirit of antichrist, where- 
of ye have heard that it should come ; and even now 
already is it in the world." And the other passage, 2 
John 7: "For many deceivers are entered into the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 217 



world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the 
flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." Let me 
give you the Revised reading of that passage, ''For 
many deceivers are gone forth into the world even they 
that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. 
This is the deceiver and the antichrist." 

The spirit of Antichrist is easily recognizable. The 
spirit of Antichrist includes everything that goes 
against Christ. 

Here's an item from an English paper entitled "The 
Modern Christ." 

"In past generations the religious world has been 
taken up with doctrines or sacraments, or ceremonies, 
or ecclesiastical constitutions. But in our day it is 
'Christ.' Within our memory His name was rigidly 
excluded from the Press, and was reviled by infidels. 
But to-day it is on every one's lips : on all sides He is 
the subject of study as a teacher, and a philanthropist; 
as the 'elder brother' of mankind ; as He is 'revealed 
m history and glorified in art.' But it is as the Christ 
of Theosophy and not the Christ of God ; it is as the 
example of a man, not as the Saviour of lost sinners ; 
it is as the head of the human race, and not as the Head 
of His Body the Church ; it is as the fulness of human 
perfection and not as 'the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily.' All this is significant as a sign of the times ! 
The Christmas Number of the (American) Biblical 
World (of over 140 pages), is occupied wholly with 
this subject, describing 'the Hall of Christ' about to be 
erected at Chautauqua, solely for this study. Here is 
to be collected a library of 'the lives of Jesus' : another 
room will be devoted to a collection of engravings, 
photographs of great pictures, statues, etc., of Christ. 
Its object is to accommodate 500 students, and to pro- 



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STUDIES IN THE 



mote 'true social and political reform/ 'which are daily 
building up a civilization founded on the broad doc- 
trines of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood 
of Man !' Truly the times are preparing for the cry, 
Xo, here is Christ, or lo, there,' but it is the true prep- 
aration for Antichrist. These will be his great prin- 
ciples. He will unite all sections of mankind, all 
religions, all nations, and thus prepare the way for his 
own reception and worship. The whole aim of the re- 
ligious movements to-day, is to shut out the Christ of 
God, to get rid of the Saviour of lost sinners, to do 
away with His atoning work and His redeeming blood, 
to strive to bring about 'good will to men' without 
'glory to God,' and to establish a millennium without 
Christ!" 

That is the way that people across the water view 
some of these things. Perhaps they are nearly right. 
Things are rapidly developing for the appearance of 
this Antichrist, who in the eyes of some will be all that 
is to be admired and they will worship him. 

He will rise up out of the sea. The sea suggests na- 
tions, people, out of the midst he will come. The 
heads and the horns and the crowns are easily under- 
stood. Daniel 7:17 explains them. "These great 
beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall 
arise out of the earth." The horns and crowns indicate 
power and authority. (Rev. 13 : i.) 

If you will notice the beasts in Daniel 7, you will see 
in one person the combination of the three of Daniel's 
wild beasts. John sees the three in one. This one has 
the qualities of three of Daniel's wild beasts, this 
dragon, to whom the devil gave his power and seat and 
great authority. (Rev. 13:2.) 

Do you remember the words of Christ, "I am come 



BOOK OF REVELATION 219 



in my Father's name, and ye received me not : if an- 
other shall come in his own name, him ye will receive/' 
For he will accept from the devil what Christ refused. 
The devil said to Christ, ''Bow down to me and I will 
give you the whole earth." There will be something 
like a resurrection nature about him, one living from 
the dead, as it were. (Rev. 13 : 3.) 

''And they worshipped the dragon which gave power 
unto the beast : and they worshipped the beast, saying, 
Who is like unto the beast ? Who is able to make war 
with him?" What a contrast between this and the 
song of Moses in Exodus 15, "Who is like unto thee, 
O Lord, among the gods ? Who is like thee, glorious 
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" 

You will notice four things given unto him in verses 
5, 6 and 7, a mouth speaking great things, power to 
continue forty-two months, power to make war against 
the saints, and power to overcome them. He will put 
to death the saints, and God will let him do it. It is a 
strange thing that God allows the devil to persecute 
the Christians. Rev. 2 : 10, "Fear none of those things 
which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast 
some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ; and ye 
shall have tribulation ten days : be thou faithful unto 
death, and I will give thee a crown of life." We are 
told not to fear death. Since the day that Cain slew 
his brother Abel, the devil has been keeping up that 
business, of killing the children of God. It is the worst 
he can do. He has not got through with his work yet. 
It will be worse until the better time. As the Arme- 
nians have been laying down their lives, so we must be 
willing to lay down our lives rather than deny the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Rev. 13:8, "And all that dwell upon the 
earth, etc." 



220 



STUDIES IN THE 



O believer, this is the great question, where's your 
name written? It may be written on the earth. It 
may be written large on the earth, but if so, there is 
nothing in it. Our Lord said in Luke lo, '^Rejoice not 
in this, that the saints are subject unto you ; but rather 
rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.'' 
How can one tell if his name is written in heaven? 
Just this way. Have you seen yourself to be a sinner, 
and do you honestly receive the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
died on Calvary for you, who rose from the dead, who 
is at God's right hand, do you receive Him as your 
Saviour, and trust only in His precious blood? Then 
your name is surely written in heaven. Blessed be God 
for that assurance. 

''He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captiv- 
ity : he that killeth with the sword must be killed with 
the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the 
saints." We overcome the enemy by patience, by faith, 
by steadfastly believing what is written, and being 
willing to endure even unto death. 

Let us look at the last section of the chapter, the com- 
panion of this beast. ''And I beheld another beast 
coming up out of the earth ; and he had two horns like 
a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." He may look very 
lamblike, but he did not appear very lamblike when he 
spoke. When Jacob deceived his poor old blind father, 
Isaac said, "The hands are the hands of Esau, but the 
voice is the voice of Jacob." We may look like Chris- 
tians, but if our characters are not Christlike, we are 
none of His. 

"And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast 
before him, and causeth the earth and them which 
dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly 
wound was healed." And so, devil worship is what we 



BOOK OF REVELATION 221 



are coming to. There is devil worship in France now. 
They are actually worshipping the devil, and make no 
secret of it. I quote from The Watchword. 

''Devil worship has been introduced into Paris, 
France. His disciples are in three orders. First and 
most prominent, the woman. The initiated takes a 
solemn oath: 'I abjure baptism and the Christian 
faith, I repudiate obedience to God, I deny the sacra- 
ments and trample upon the cross; I swear fidelity 
and vassalage to the Prince of Darkness.' Then the 
neophyte is rebaptized in the name of the devil. Amid 
the greatest blasphemy the 'devil' scrapes the holy oils 
and the sign of the cross off the applicant's forehead. 
The neophyte then says, 'Erase my name, O Satan, 
from the book of life, and inscribe it on the book of 
death.' Upon an altar stands a cross without a Christ, 
the statue of a nude woman. In front of the cross lies 
the bread for the celebration of the mysteries, a cup 
containing some coagulated blood, and a hissing ser- 
pent enclosed in a bottle." 

Is that thing actually going on in France to-day? 
What else will we have? Everything getting ready for 
the worship of the devil. That will be the last worship 
ere the Lord comes. 

"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire 
come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of 
men." This wicked one will work miracles, bring fire 
down from heaven, "and deceive them, that dwell on 
the earth by the means of those miracles which he had 
power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them 
that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image 
to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and 
did live. And he had power to give life unto the image 
of the beast, that the image of the beast should both 



222 



STUDIES IN THE 



speak, and cause that as many as would not worship 
the image of the beast should be killed. And he caus- 
eth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and 
bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their 
foreheads : And that no man might buy or sell, save he 
that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the 
number of his name." Boycott extraordinary surely ! 
No more business done on earth in those days unless 
you do business in his, the devil's name, or his fol- 
lowers. That time has not come yet, thank God ! You 
can do business honest)^ now for a while. 

''Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding 
count the number of the beast : for it is the number of 
a man ; and his number is six hundred threescore and 
six." There is only one other place in the Bible where 
the number 666 is found. There must be some connec- 
tion. I Kings 10 : 14, ''Now the weight of gold that 
came to Solomon in one year was six hundred three- 
score and six talents of gold." In Daniel 3, the image 
of Nebuchadnezzar was 60 cubits by 6 cubits. There 
is something in this. What is there in 666? There is 
man, the perfection of man apart from God, and there 
is gold. What more does man want to-day, but to be 
admired and have gold enough to carry out his pur- 
poses ? These two qualities will be in the Antichrist. 

Shall we beware of the Antichrist, and shall we with 
the whole earth bow down to Christ? And if in our 
day some one comes and says, "I am Christ," say, 
"Show me your hands." How shall we know Him? 
By the wounds. People say, "Do you take your de- 
formities into heaven ?" No, but there is a reason why 
the body of Christ should bear these wounds up to the 
present time. How shall we know Him? Zech. 13:6, 
"And one shall say unto him. What are these wounds 



BOOK OF REVELATION 223 



in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with 
which I was wounded in the house of my friends." 

Let us bow down to Him alone, and in thought and 
word and deed honor Him, even if we die for it. 

Prayer : 

Our Father and our God make us to be on our 
guard against the adversary, and O Lord deliver us 
from everything however good it may appear that has 
the mark of the Antichrist on it. Lord Jesus Christ, 
Blessed Lamb of God, may we be whole-hearted for 
Thee moment by moment, living unto Thee with firm 
faith and with patience and accept Thee as our Wis- 
dom of God and the power of God. Is it possible, O 
Lord, that in the Hfe of any one here there is any de- 
gree of conformity with the Prince of Darkness, with 
the Antichrist? If so, wilt Thou search us and deliver 
us from everything that is contrary to the principles of 
the Lamb of God. Make us meek and lamblike, hum- 
ble followers of Him and Him alone, and may we see 
Him day by day, moment by moment until we see Him 
face to face. The Lord bless us each one and make us 
whole-hearted for Him. 



Chapter 14. 



Our meditation this afternoon is upon the fourteenth 
chapter of Revelation. We will take this chapter up 
verse by verse. I will read it through with you. No- 
tice first that it is divided into seven sections. You will 
easily recognize them as we go on. It is largely a con- 
trast to the two previous chapters. In chapters 12 and 
13 we saw the work of the devil, the false trinity: the 
devil and the beast and the false prophet. Here we 
see somewhat of the character and conduct of the peo- 
ple of God, and yet not the church. Let us keep in 
mind that the Scriptures tell us of various companies 
of believers, and there is no place where these various 
companies are more clearly set forth than in the Book 
of Revelation. In chapters 4 and 5 we see the church 
represented by the living creatures and the elders. In 
chapter 7 we see a company numbering 144,000 out of 
the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. In the same 
chapter we see a great multitude that no man could 
number gathered out of the great tribulation. And 
now we come to this 144,000, which may possibly be 
the same that we read of in chapter 7 although some 
think otherwise. You must read and judge for your- 
selves. Only notice that there are many companies of 
believers, and this is plainly hinted at in i Cor. 15, 
where you read this statement concerning the first res- 
urrection, 

"Every man in his own order (or company or band) : 
Christ the firstf ruits : afterward they that are Christ's 
at his coming." There are many companies of re- 

224 



BOOK OF REVELATION 225 



deemed people: the church the highest company, the 
tribulation saints another company, the 144,000 of Is- 
rael, the firstfruits, another company, beyond that the 
whole earth filled with the glory of God. Now if we 
have the outline somewhat clearly before us, we will 
be able to go on with more understanding ; but when 
the events are actually fulfilled we shall see how little 
we now know about it, ''for now we know only in part, 
but then we shall know even as we are known." I have 
often wondered why we could not be more under the 
control of the Holy Spirit. I have a great desire, no 
doubt you have, to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. 
Why cannot we sit down with this book and have Him 
teach us? There are several difficulties. We have our 
own opinions, that is, a great many opinions of man 
are about us. We have the way we have been brought 
up oftentimes to contend with. But if we would sit 
down with the Book and make up our minds to believe 
what God has said as set forth in the Bible we should 
be surely led by the Spirit. So, let us pray for each 
other that we may be taught of God, that we may be 
always teachable that we may get the mind of the 
Spirit. There is nothing to be compared to it. We 
will read the lesson. 

Rev. 14: I to 5: *'And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb 
stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred 
forty and four thousand, having his Father's name 
written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from 
heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice 
of a great thunder : and I heard the voice of harpers 
harping with their harps : And they sung as it were a 
new song before the throne, and before the four living 
creatures, and the elders : and no man could learn that 
song but the hundred and forty and four thousand 
15 



226 



STUDIES IN THE 



which were redeemed from the earth. These are they 
which were not defiled with women ; for they are vir- 
gins. These are they which follow the Lamb whither- 
soever he goeth. These were redeemed from among 
men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 
And in their mouth was found no guile : for they are 
without fault before the throne of God." 

This is the first section of the chapter. It is the story 
of these 144,000. The word 'Xamb" needs no com- 
ment, but needs a great deal of meditation. Our Lord 
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, and if we are fol- 
lowers of the Lamb we should have the character of 
the Lamb, meek, lowly, unresisting, yielded. 

The words ''Mount Sion" need a word in passing. 
We read in Isaiah in many places concerning Sion, 
which was a part of the city Jerusalem. The Temple 
of Solomon stood upon Mount Moriah, not upon 
Mount Sion. It stood upon the same hill where Abra- 
ham had offered up Isaac. The temple of Solomon 
stood upon the piece of ground which David bought 
from Araunah, the Jebusite, from which the destroy- 
ing angel stayed his hand. But this is Sion, which 
refers to the borders of Jerusalem, David's tower. Just 
that word upon the geography of the city. Between 
the two hills, Moriah and Sion there was a valley. 

Isaiah 24: 23, ''Then the moon shall be confounded, 
and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall 
reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his 
ancients gloriously." Moriah points to sacrifice, Sion, 
to the reign of Christ. If you turn to Isaiah 35, the 
tenth verse, we read, "And the ransomed of the Lord 
shall return, and come to Zion with songs and ever- 
lasting joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and 
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." 



BOOK OF REVELATION 227 



And so on. Zion is either a part or the whole of the 
City Jerusalem, literally a part, sometimes signifying 
the whole, and taking in the whole kingdom. But this 
mount Sion may possibly be a heavenly mount. There 
is an earthly Jerusalem and a heavenly Jerusalem, an 
earthly Sion and a heavenly Sion. This may be in 
heaven. It looks like it, for here is the Lamb standing 
on Mount Sion, and with him ''an himdred forty and 
four thousand, having his Father's name written in 
their foreheads." 

Are they the same as the 144,000 of chapter 7? 
Those were sealed in their foreheads, these have their 
Father's name in their foreheads. Those were sealed 
and left on the earth, here they are either on earth still 
or in glory. If this is a heavenly Sion, there is a pos- 
sibility, I think a strong probability, that these are the 
same 144,000 as in chapter 7. But notice, they have 
their Father's name in their foreheads. This lesson 
does not concern us as Christians, as Christ's Body, 
but there is a lesson for us here in their having their 
Father's name in their foreheads. Friends, in the sight 
of God, we carry a mark, we are marked people, we are 
sealed with the Holy Spirit, and we are kept for the 
Father's use. What a blessed thing it would be for us 
if we had in mind always that we are not our own. In 
the third chapter of Revelation in the promise to the 
overcomer we read, "Him that overcometh will I make 
a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no 
more out : and I will write upon him the name of my 
God, and the name of the city of my God, which is 
new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven 
from my God: and I will write upon him my new 
name." Let us act as if we had our Father's name 
upon our foreheads. 



228 



STUDIES IN THE 



"And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of 
many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder : and 
I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps." 
I have no clear Hght upon that figure. It is written 
again and again that the voice of the Lord is as the 
voice of many waters, and here's a voice from heaven 
as the voice of many waters. It may be, as I think I 
have said, suggestive of a voice for all people, for 
waters represent people. "And as the voice of a great 
thunder" may refer to the greatness, the grandeur, the 
awfulness of the voice of God. There is something in 
it I am longing for, but do not seem to get. "The voice 
as the sound of many waters and as the voice of a great 
thunder." Well some day we will know the meaning 
of all these voices. 

"And they sung as it were a new song before the 
throne, and before the living creatures, and the elders." 
Now see, here is a clear proof that they are a distinct 
company from the living creatures or Cherubim and 
the elders. They are not the Cherubim, not the elders, 
but a distinct company from those of the fourth and 
fifth chapters. "And no man could learn that song." 
It was something peculiar to themselves. Each in- 
dividual has his own experience. That may be sug- 
gestive of the stone which we will receive, which no 
man will know about but the one who receives it. Our 
Lord is spoken of as having a name (Rev. 19: 12) 
which no man knew but Himself. Each one has a 
peculiar experience. We are no two alike, any more 
than the leaves on the trees. Let God deal with us as 
He pleases, and let us not want to be like other people. 
It is a most dangerous thing to want to work like some- 
body else, but just say, "Lord take me and accomplish 
in me what Thou pleaseth." 



BOOK OF REVELATION 229 



*'These are they which were not defiled with women." 
This makes us think of the teaching of Jezebel in a 
previous chapter, Rev. 2 : 20, and makes us think of the 
woman sitting upon the scarlet colored beast, (Rev. 17 : 
3 to 5) with her false teaching. There has been false 
teaching always, and alw^ays will be until the Lord 
comes. How shall we recognize it? By the word of 
truth. If it is not in accordance with the word through 
and through, we must avoid them, we must not have 
fellowship with them. Test all you hear by the Bible, 
and by the whole Bible. 

Paul says, concerning the church, ''I have espoused 
you as a chaste virgin." The church, a virgin, unde- 
filed. These were redeemed from among men; just 
as the church is the firstfruits of all nations, so these 
144,000 are a firstfruits of Israel. 

''These are they which follow the Lamb whitherso- 
ever he goeth. These were redeemed from among 
men being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are 
without fault before the throne of God." 

Notice two or three points so helpful. We can ap- 
ply them to ourselves. ''They were redeemed." O if 
we are redeemed we should be glad all the day long. 
Do you live on that thought? Can you say "I am re- 
deemed"? Can you say it with the whole heart, and 
without any hesitation? Can you say, "I thank Thee 
with the whole heart Thou hast redeemed me" ? Gal. 
3 : 13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law." 
Rev. 5:9, "Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy 
blood." Have you ever found much comfort in Isaiah 
43: I, "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have 
called thee by thy name ; thou art mine." It is one of 
the mightiest of all the words in the Bible, "redeemed," 



230 



STUDIES IN THE 



and we can say it from the heart if we have truly re- 
ceived Christ. You do not need to fear death if you 
are redeemed, because you know absence from the 
body is presence with the Lord. You do not fear what 
may come if you know "all things work together for 
good to themi that love God." Being redeemed they 
are without guile. Are we vv^ithout deceit? Are we 
honest with God day by day? Are we truthful. The 
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is a Spirit of truth. And ''they 
follow the Lamb withersoever he goeth." They never 
try to lead the Lamb as some people do, to the theatre 
and other places. We follow the Lamb. We do not 
lead the Lamb. We should never talk about taking 
Him here or there with us. We talk a great deal of 
nonsense about that. Let the Lamb take us where He 
will. He may lead us into trouble, but it will be for 
His glory and our good. ''Whithersoever He goeth," 

Then, they are without fault. We are still so full of 
faults ; but thank the Lord for that verse in the Epistle 
of Jude, "Unto him who is able to present you faultless 
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy," 
and because Hel is able to present us faultless, He 
surely will, and some day you will be without fault 
before the throne of God. You will be just like the 
Lord Jesus Christ. It helps me a great deal in bearing 
with people, and I hope it will help people in bearing 
with me. We are not finished yet. None of us are. 
But then we shall be like Christ before His throne. 
We have this description of a great company of people 
in Scripture, and Scripture is for our hearts. 

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that 
dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, 
and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice. Fear 



BOOK OF REVELATION 231 



God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judg- 
ment is come : and worship him that made heaven, and 
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." 

This is the second section. Here is preaching. 
What a strange pulpit he has ! Heaven is the pulpit. 
And what a congregation! The people on the earth 
are the congregation. Do you think an angel will 
preach in those days ? Angels have preached. Gabriel 
has come from heaven more than once. With glad 
tidings the angels came to the shepherds. Yes, God 
will not fail because He cannot get men to preach. If 
necessary He will cause an angel to preach again, and 
preach so loudly that all the earth will hear. There is 
light here on Mat. 24 : 14. 

This is God's last call. While riding in the train, the 
porter comes through the cars with the call to luncheon. 
There is a second call for luncheon, and a third, the 
last call. If you don't go then, you won't get anything 
to eat. Now here's the last call, the last call on the 
earth to the people on the earth ere Christ comes in 
His glory. How persistent God is! How lovingly 
persistent ! He will do everything to help people. God 
has had mercy on this lost world. It is we who are 
unmerciful. We have the glad tidings in our posses- 
sion. We have the Bible which tells us of the love of 
God. We have the commission to go into the world 
and preach the Gospel to every creature, and if we do 
not do it, we are unmerciful. Think of it friends ! Are 
you unmerciful? If you have the power to preach the 
Gospel, or money to send it to the heathen, and you are 
not doing it, you are unmerciful. God has had mercy, 
and made us the embassadors of his mercy — every 
man, woman and child who is a Christian, so far as 
they can and as fast as they can. 



232 



STUDIES IN THE 



This is a time of judgment, the last call ere the final 
judgment comes. 

Verse 8: "And there followed another angel, saying, 
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she 
made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her 
fornication." 

We are to have two chapters about Babylon, and 
therefore pass this verse by for the present. This 
judgment is opened up fully in chapters 17 and 18. 
We shall have to have two studies on Babylon. The 
prophecies concerning Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and 51 
and Isaiah 13 and 14 have never yet had a complete 
fulfilment. There is a difference between a fulfilment 
and a fill-full-ment. Isaiah 13 and 14, along with 
Revelation 17 and 18 open up quite fully the story of 
Babylon, which city is yet to be, and it will be de- 
stroyed. There has always been a Babylon ever since 
the time the tower of Babel was built. The spirit of 
Babylon was before that. Babylon is often mentioned 
as a name of that which has been against God to glorify 
man ; the spirit of Antichrist. That also has always 
been in the world. 

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a 
loud voice. If any man worship the beast and his image, 
and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 
the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of 
his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire 
and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and 
in the presence of the Lamb : and the smoke of their 
torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they 
have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and 
his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his 
name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are 



BOOK OF REVELATION 233 



they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith 
of Jesus." 

This is the fourth section. What a contrast is here 
to the closing words of the last chapter ! In the last 
chapter we read that at this time you cannot buy or sell, 
you cannot do business unless you have the mark of 
the beast. And many will accept the mark of the beast 
in order to do business. That principle is not wanting 
to-day, but it will be more fully developed by and by, 
and the mark of the beast will be upon all business 
transactions in those days. We are coming to a good 
time when all manner of business will be to the glory 
of God ; but the days will grow darker before we come 
to the good time. The passage you have just read 
gives us the contrast. It shows what will happen to 
those, who, for a little longer life, consent to obey the 
beast, and receive his mark. This is a most solemn 
part of the Bible. 

"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for 
ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, 
who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever 
receiveth the mark of his name." This is the preach- 
ing of an angel. Not many preachers preach this to- 
day. It was also the preaching of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. We read here that those who receive the mark 
of the beast and worship his image shall be eternally 
tormented. Now this is not annihilation, is it? I do 
not believe you find anything about annihilation in the 
Bible. 'Teople die and are dead." Man makes that 
up. God does not make that statement. Just read this 
statement from our Lord, Matt. 25 : 41 : "Then shall 
he say also unto them on the left hand. Depart from 
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels." Remember Mark 9 : 43 and 44 : 



STUDIES IN THE 



"If thy hand offend thee, cut it off : it is better for thee 
to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go 
into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 
where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched." Have these words no meaning, no signifi- 
cance? If they have, had we not better tell people? 
What fearful things are going on to-day! What is 
coming over people ? What takes possession of a man 
when he deliberately takes the life of his wife and little 
children, and then his own, wipes the whole family out 
of existence? What is the meaning of all the strange 
things we see and hear ? We cannot tell. But this we 
do know. There is a God. There is a heaven. There 
is a hell. And it is our business to tell people as fast as 
we can that God loves them. Unbelief is at the bottom 
of it all. We cannot tell how many preachers are re- 
sponsible. That is not our affair. Are you responsi- 
ble ? Surely we are responsible to God to make known 
His truth. Think of these things. Don't make light of 
them. Just as truly as there is glory for the redeemed, 
there is everlasting torment for those who do not be- 
lieve the Lord Jesus Christ. May we all tremble lest 
we may make light of what God has said. Those who 
would rather die than have the mark of the beast, we 
will find in the next chapter, chapter 15, where they 
will be. 

The story of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16, is 
the lesson for the Sunday school next Lord's day. I 
heard last week of an elder in a church who had a min- 
ister staying with him over night, and he said to him, 
''What are you going to preach about to-morrow?" 
The minister said, ''On the rich man and Lazarus. I 
have some new thoughts about it." The elder said, 
"Don't you do it. I won't go to church if you do. I 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



235 



get it everywhere I go. I am tired of it. Tell us about 
the two men who walked to Emmaus, that comforts 
me." The minister actually changed the topic and tried 
to comfort the man. He is a very wealthy man. And 
he has taken his money and won't do anything for God 
because he can't have his own way. I am not sure but 
God has given him that story many times to do him 
good. There will be a good many elders and a good 
many preachers among the lost. What an awful hell 
it will be for people who go out into it from a high 
position on earth. Let us beheve God, and if His word 
troubles us, let us be troubled, and let God's word bring 
us to the place of peace where it will bring us if we 
heed it. If God's word troubles us, it is because we 
need to be troubled. 

Now we come to section 5, just one verse. "And 1 
heard a voice from heaven saying unto me. Write, 
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence- 
forth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from 
their labours ; and their works do follow them." It is 
true at any time ''Blessed are they that die in the 
Lord." But it has a special meaning to those who die 
at that time. Now, friends, are you perfectly sure, 
you who are Christians, you who have received Christ 
as your Saviour, are you just as sure as you are that 
you sit on those seats, that if death calls for you you 
will be absent from the body, present with the Lord? 
That is something solid to stand on. "To die is gain." 
Does this verse give you comfort? Are you sure it 
would be gain ? Not many people despise gain. And 
yet this is a kind of gain that does not seem to make 
many people happy. Surely that is a Scriptural fact, 
that if we are redeemed and death calls us out of the 
body, we will be in glory. Phil, i : 21 and 23 : "To me 



236 STUDIES IN THE 



to live is Christ, and to die is gain." ''To depart and 
to be with Christ is far better." 2 Cor. 5 : 8, ''WilUng 
rather to be absent from the body, and to be present 
with the Lord." It is a glorious fact that if we are 
God's children, redeemed by the precious blood of 
Christ, death even though an enemy would cause us 
great gain. "To die is gain." I have no doubt of it at 
all. I believe it firmly. If I should be called out of 
this body to-day before I preach the evening sermon, 
it would be to me great gain. Because you are good? 
No, God forbid. We do not trust in anything we have 
done. What makes you sure? I make my confession 
before you. As a sinner, justly deserving the wrath of 
God, I accept Christ. My trust is wholly in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. He died for me, and I accept Him, and 
just because of His finished work, I, a hell deserving 
sinner am saved by His blood. The Lord Jesus Christ 
receiveth sinners. This moment He will receive any- 
one here who is not a Christian, if you will come. I 
am "justified freely by his grace through the redemp- 
tion that is in Christ Jesus." It says "freely." The 
word "freely" has been in my soul all the week. Ro- 
mans 8: 32, "He that spared not his own Son, but de- 
livered him up for us all, how shall he not with him 
also freely give us all things?" 

Romans 3 : 24 was being read by a little girl to her 
grandfather. He said, "Read it again, child." She 
read it again, "Being justified freely." He said, "Child, 
does it say 'freely'?" "Yes, grandpa," she said. The 
child had to read it over and over again to the old man. 
"Freely, that is what I want." Just to think of it, it 
says "freely." Then I accept it freely, God's ffee gift. 
And it is because of this free justification, because of 
this gift of God of eternal life through the merits of 



BOOK OF REVELATION 237 



Jesus Christ, and that alone, that every one who ac- 
cepts it is saved. ''Blessed are the dead which die in 
the Lord." 

Now we come to the last two sections, the harvest 
and the vintage. In the thirteenth of Matthew the 
harvest is the end of the age. That expression ''the 
end of the world" is misleading. It will be a new world 
by and by filled with righteousness. This planet is 
going on and on to glory. It will be a glorious planet 
some day. But this age is going to end. It will end in 
catastrophe. But after this age there will be a better 
age. 

Verses 14, 15 and 16, "And I looked, and behold a 
white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the 
Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and 
in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came 
out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that 
sat on the cloud. Thrust in thy sickle, and reap : for 
the time is come for thee to reap ; for the harvest of the 
earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in 
his sickle onl the earth; and the earth was reaped." 
That looks like another righteous company gathered 
out from the earth at that time. Another company ! 
Oh how many companies there are ! Remember them 
now. Keep them in mind: the church, the 144,000, 
the tribulation saints, and then this company called the 
harvest. We had in the first verse a little while ago a 
company, and now here's another company, the harvest. 

Next comes the vintage. "And another angel came 
out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a 
sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the 
altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a 
loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying. 
Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of 



238 



STUDIES IN THE 



the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 
And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and 
gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great 
winepress of the wrath of God." This is a sad story. 
But notice it is not God's vine. It is another kind of 
a vine. It is the vine of the earth. It is all antichris- 
tian. ''And the winepress was trodden without the 
city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto 
the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six 
hundred furlongs." There may be some reference here 
to the armies which will be gathered at that time 
against Jerusalem. They may extend over that space 
of country, i,6oo furlongs, and so great will be the 
slaughter, that blood shall cover all that territory. 

You will find the story of the winepress in Deut. 32 : 
32 to 36, and 41 to 43 ; and Isaiah 34 : i to 8, and 63 : 
I to 4. Well, that winds up everything, doesn't it? 
That is what some people say. Ask the farmer when 
he gets through with the harvest if that ends every- 
thing. Tell him he might as well kill himself. He 
would say, *'No, I expect now to enjoy the harvest. 
After the harvest comes rest and prosperity." Say to 
a couple who are going to be married soon, "You will 
be married next week. That will end the whole busi- 
ness. You might as well shoot yourselves after that." 
The harvest ends everything? The marriage day ends 
everything? No! It is the beginning of everything! 
It will close up the days of this age, but bring in a bet- 
ter age. Oh let us be faithful until that time, and let 
us not be guilty of keeping back the good tidings from 
those who ought to have it. 



Chapters 15 and 16. 



Our meditation to-day is upon the fifteenth, and we 
will try and include the sixteenth, chapter of Revela- 
tion. In considering the Sundays which are before us, 
we find that if we can cover these two chapters to-day 
which give us one story, the story of the seven vials 
of the wrath of God, and next Lord's day the next two, 
seventeenth and eighteenth which tell the story of 
Babylon, then we shall just have four chapters remain- 
ing for the four Sundays to the end of May, when all 
the Bible classes will be discontinued until September, 
and thus we may cover the Book of Revelation. 

Revelation fifteenth chapter. We will just take it a 
verse at a time and see what God has for us in it. If 
you look to me you will surely be disappointed, but if 
the attitude of your heart is, *'My soul wait thou only 
upon God," He may through the most weak earthen 
vessel give a message. If you look to God for a mes- 
sage, you will get something. So let your heart be say- 
ing, "My Father, what hast Thou in this lesson for me 
this afternoon ?" I like that word in the Prophecy of 
Habakkuk, ''I will watch to see what He will say unto 
me," or, what He will say in me. Hab. 2:1. This 
ought to be the attitude of our soul every day, all day 
long. For God has something to say to us every day, 
all day He is trying to tell us something to reveal Him- 
self to us. May He say something to us now to bless 
us and make us a blessing. 

Verse i : ''And I saw another sign in heaven, great 

239 



240 



STUDIES IN THE 



and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last 
plagues ; for in them is filled up the wrath of God." 

Here's a wonderful statement, surely, — the wrath of 
God filled up in these seven last plagues. Now, under- 
stand, this is not the eternal wrath of God. This is the 
wrath of God coming upon people while they live upon 
this earth. There is such a thing as the wrath of God 
beyond this earth. There is such a thing as eternal 
torment. Our Lord Jesus Christ described it in the 
story of the rich man and Lazarus. It was described in 
the chapter we had last week "no rest day nor night 
for ever and ever." We are not reading of that to-day. 
God will send judgments on people while they live upon 
the earth, if perchance they may turn to the Lord and 
be delivered from the wrath which is to come. The 
age in which we are living will end in judgments, sore, 
and great and many judgments coming upon the people 
on the earth as this age is closed, and then will come 
an age of joy and prosperity, and that age also will end 
in judgment ; and then will come a time, the best time 
the earth has ever seen, and that age will have no end, 
but there will be a new heaven and a new earth "where- 
in dwelleth righteousness." If we are wise we will 
believe what He has said and live wholly unto Him, 
living for Him to rescue people from the coming judg- 
ments. We are here to reach out after people who are 
still ungodly, who are still mixed up with the mammon 
of unrighteousness. 

"Seven angels having seven vials full of the wrath 
of God." If you are familiar with the Old Testament, 
this will not need much comment. Let me take time 
to read one passage, Isaiah 13. We seem to have the 
whole story of the times of which we are reading in 
this one chapter. It begins thus: "The burden of 



BOOK OF REVELATION 241 



Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see." Next 
Lord's day if spared we will consider the overthrow 
of Babylon, chapters 17 and 18, but this comes in in 
connection with to-day's lesson. Isa. 13: 6, "Howl ye; 
for the day of the Lord is at hand ; it shall come as 
a destruction from the Almighty. (7) Therefore shall 
all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 
(8) and they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows 
shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a 
woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at 
another; their faces shall be as flames. (9) Behold 
the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath 
and fierce anger." Verse 12, '1 will make a man more 
precious than fine gold ; even a man than the golden 
wedge of Ophir." What man? There is only one 
Man, and He is the Deliverer, the man, Christ Jesus. 
''I will make a man more precious than even gold." 
In the end of the chapter you have the overthrow of 
God's enemies, the overthrow of Babylon, and in the 
beginning of the next chapter the restoration of Israel. 
And that is the order of events all the time, the over- 
throw of Antichrist and the bringing in of the king- 
dom. These seals and trumpets and vials will have 
their fulfilment in the years that will intervene between 
the Church's being caught up and the Church's re- 
turn, — (we do not know much about these things, and 
therefore we seek to go carefully, knowing that now 
we only know in part, then shall we know even as we 
are known) these seals and trumpets and vials shall 
have their fulfilment probably within a period of seven 
years, Daniel's seventieth week ; but the fulfilment of 
the vials will probably be in the last three and one-half 
years, the last end of that week, of which we have read 
a good deal already. 
16 



242 



STUDIES IN THE 



We know concerning every unbeliever that the wrath 
of God is resting upon that man. If there is an unbe- 
liever now present, the wrath of God is resting upon 
you. You may not feel it. You may not know it, but 
according to the Scriptures, John 3 : 36 : *'He that be- 
lieveth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of 
God abideth on him." That is, it is over you, it is upon 
you in a sense. It is waiting to fall upon you. But 
while God waits, before He lets it fall. He offers you 
pardon. I think I have told you, we are not waiting 
for judgment, we are already judged. (I am speaking 
of the unbeliever.) The unbeliever is not waiting for 
judgment. He is judged, and he is waiting for execu- 
tion. Judgment and punishment are different things. 
The man is judged when he leaves the court house 
with the sentence upon him ; but between the sentence 
and the execution of the sentence, there may be a pos- 
sibility of pardon. *'He that believeth not is condemned 
already.'^ Every sinner on earth is judged, but he is 
not executed, not punished yet, and between the sen- 
tence and the execution God offers pardon. We should 
say to those we meet, ''Friend, have you your pardon? 
Don't you know you are judged, and punishment is 
awaiting you ? God is offering you a pardon." Think 
of those who are actually in prison and you should 
bring them their pardon, see what joy you would bring 
them ! And who would be so wicked as to have a par- 
don in his pocket for a prisoner and not rush and give 
it to him immediately? The pardon is in our posses- 
sion, and we hesitate to proclaim the pardon, knowing 
all the time there is wrath hanging over the people. 
What is the matter with us ? Has the devil put us all 
asleep ? Has he caused blindness and hardness to come 
upon us ? We think it is all right to have the preacher 



BOOK OF REVELATION 243 



preach us a little sermon once or twice a week. Every 
believer should be a preacher, preaching to everyone 
we meet who is awaiting execution. Did you notice 
what you read in Job 33 ? We read there God speaks 
once, God speaks! twice, but man won't listen. God 
says, ''Deliver him from going down to the pit : I have 
found a ransom." And He is doing all He can to let 
people know He has provided a ransom. Are you per- 
fectly sure you are delivered from the wrath to come? 
People will not be apt to beHeve you unless you are 
very sure yourself that having received Christ you are 
delivered. If you are not perfectly sure you cannot 
tell anybody else. It is a glorious fact that we are com- 
manded to run here and there and tell of God's pardon. 

Verse 2, "And I saw as it were a sea of glass min- 
gled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory 
over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, 
and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of 
glass, having the harps of God." 

''Fire" suggestive of the fiery trials by which these 
people reached this place. In chapter 4, we read of a 
sea of glass clear as crystal. Here is a sea of glass 
mingled with fire, and those who had gotten the vic- 
tory stand on the sea of glass having the harps of God. 
How did they get the victory, by being willing to die 
rather than receive the mark of the beast. They got 
the victory like the Armenians. Like the minister who 
was told ''J^st lift one finger, and we will spare thee." 
He said, "I will never lift a finger." And he died, shot 
through the heart. Ninety of his congregation fol- 
lowed him into glory. They got the victory. How? 
By dying rather than deny Christ. In the days that are 
coming there will be those who will receive the mark 
of the beast to prolong life. Are vv^e conforming to the 



244 



STUDIES IN THE 



world in any way in order to keep friends, or for any 
other gain, then we may have the mark of the beast. 
Let us be all for Christ even if we die for it, and then 
we will have the victory. 

''Having the harps of God." This is another Old 
Testament story. Isaiah 30. I will not take the time 
to read it, but if you will read the latter part of the 
chapter from verse 26 to the end, you will see about all 
this, about the harps and the vials and the wrath — it is 
all there. 

Verses 3 and 4, ''And they sing the song of Moses 
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, 
Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Al- 
mighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of 
saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify 
thy name? for thou only art holy : for all nations shall 
come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are 
made manifest." Listen to what they sing there when 
they get the victory ! Listen to them singing, these vic- 
tors, these who overcame by dying, by laying down 
their lives for Christ. "Great and marvellous are thy 
works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy 
ways, thou King of nations" (not saints). I like to 
think of Him as my King individually, but He is called 
the King of nations. He is not the King of the Church, 
He is the Head of the Church. Would you have par- 
allel passages? This is the song of Moses. Exodus 
15 and Deut. 32. If you care to study the chapters, 
look them up. In Exodus it is the Song of Moses and 
of Israel as they stood on the other side of the Red Sea 
and saw their enemies overthrown. Here's a word for 
us. Do you like God's ways? "Just and true are thy 
ways." There is great comfort to the soul that can 
say, day by day, whatever comes, "O Lord, just and 



BOOK OF REVELATION 245 



true are Thy ways." Whatever God may do with you 
this afternoon or evening, to-morrow, or in the coming 
days, say in your heart, "Just and true are Thy ways, 
O Lord." His way is perfect. I find comfort in that, 
in submitting to God, in saying, "Heavenly Father, it 
is all right." Through some of the darkest places I 
ever passed, I found comfort, great comfort in living 
on these words, "God is love." He cannot allow any- 
thing wrong to come to any child of His. Do not ques- 
tion His dealings. Live upon this fact, "His way is 
perfect." 

Verse 4, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and 
glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all na- 
tions shall come and worship before thee; for thy 
judgments are made manifest." 

It is wonderful you do not cry, "Hallelujah" for 
that sentence. All nations shall worship God. When 
shall they worship God? At the time of judgment. 
In Isaiah 26: 9 you read that when His judgments are 
in the earth the inhabitants of the world shall learn 
righteousness. Not by the preaching of the Gospel in 
this present age will the inhabitants of the world learn 
righteousness. There is no nation brought to Christ 
yet, and 1,800 years is a fair trial, is it not? That is 
not God's plan for this age. The Gospel is being 
preached to gather out the Church, to gather out the 
elect rulers for the next age, and when He returns in 
power and glory. He will bring the nations to His feet. 
Let us thank God the time will come when all nations 
will worship Him. Psalm 72 : 11, "Yea, all kings shall 
fall down before Him : all nations shall serve Him." 
You will find a similar verse in Psalm 86 : 9, "All na- 
tions whom thou hast made shall come and worship 
before thee, O Lord ; and shall glorify thy name." 



246 



STUDIES IN THE 



Verse 5 : ''And after that I looked, and, behold, the 
temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven 
was opened." The testimony was written upon tables 
of stone. It was put in an ark, a chest called the Ark 
of the Testimony, the Ark of the Covenant. The tab- 
ernacle was built in order to give the Ark a home. 
When Solomon's temple was built (the temple of the 
tabernacle), the tabernacle was rolled up and placed in 
the temple ; the innermost thing was the law of God 
written upon tables of stone, God's standard. God has 
only one standard, and that standard is the law, and the 
righteousness summed up in that law is what God re- 
quires if we are to enter into the kingdom. "Except 
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of 
the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into 
the kingdom of heaven." Our Lord Jesus Christ said 
that. The unrighteous shall not enter the kingdom. 
Are we to enter the kingdom by keeping God's law? 
No, you cannot do it. No man ever did but He the 
Man more precious than gold, the gold of Ophir. May 
we live to honor the coming King, to honor the Saviour, 
Jesus Christ of Nazareth. "He is the end of the law 
for righteousness to everyone that believeth." The 
people could not keep God's law. You cannot keep it. 
He fulfilled it. He is the end of the law to everyone 
that believeth ; and when the temple of the tabernacle 
of the testimony is opened, it is to show us Christ is 
the end of the law. The Lord Jesus Christ is my right- 
eousness. Can your heart say that? Then am I afraid 
to die, afraid to meet Him ? No, He is my righteous- 
ness. Afraid to meet Him? No, He is my Friend. 
Afraid of Him ? He is altogether lovely ! May your 
soul be taken captive by Him until there is not a par- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 247 



tide that is not captivated by Him. The opening of 
the temple reveals Christ as our righteousness. 

Verse 6: ''And the seven angels came out of the 
temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and 
white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden 
girdles." Here is righteousness again, for in Rev. 19 : 
8, fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Breast 
signifies love ; girdles, service. You don't mean to say 
there is any love in pouring out all these vials ? There 
certainly is. There is nothing God ever did or ever 
will do that is inconsistent with the great fact that God 
is love. You cannot reason that out. The highest rea- 
son is to submit to God, believe that God is love, and 
by and by you will see when you can understand as we 
cannot now, that nothing, not even the judgments of 
God are inconsistent with His love. 

And notice that the angels do what they are told un- 
questioningly. They ask no questions. In the twelfth 
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, you read of an 
angel who came in the prison where Peter was, and 
loosed him and led him out of the prison. In the same 
chapter you read an angel smote Herod and he died. 
They do unhesitatingly what they are told because they 
have perfect confidence in Him whom they serve. 

''And one of the four living creatures gave unto the 
seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of 
God, who liveth for ever and ever.'' We represent the 
church, the Cherubim. Will we have something to do 
with this? Surely. In the sixth chapter one of the 
living creatures says "Come," and another says 
"Come," and another says "Come," and another says 
"Come," and there came forth the white horse, and the 
red horse, and the black horse and the pale horse. 
Would you have a commentary on this, read Psalm 



248 STUDIES IN THE 



149, where you will read how the saints will take part 
in the judgments. Also i Cor. 6 : 2, ''Do ye not know 
that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world 
shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the 
smallest matters Rev. 2 : 26 and 27, "He that over- 
cometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him 
will I give power over the nations : and he shall rule 
them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall 
they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my 
Father.'' Just these passages upon the saints taking 
part in the judgments. 

"And the temple was filled with smoke from the 
glory of God, and from his power ; and no man was 
able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of 
the seven angels were fulfilled." That makes us think 
of Exodus 40 and i Kings, eighth chapter, where we 
have a record of the dedication of the Tabernacle of 
Moses and the Temple of Solomon. The glory of God 
filled the Tabernacle and no man could stand to min- 
ister. When the Temple was dedicated no man could 
stand to minister. Your body, my body, these bodies 
are intended to be temples of God, temples of Father, 
Son and Spirit, in which Father, Son and Spirit will 
dwell if we let them. Open the door ; but beware, as 
to these bodies, no man is supposed to dare to minister 
in them. It is our privilege to so present these bodies 
that in these bodies Christ may live, Jesus Christ may 
work day by day. Some day in the glory, these bodies 
will be so perfectly His, that He shall have His own 
way with them, and the self life will be crowded out. 
May it be our motto here "Not I, but Christ ; not I, but 
the Christ of God." Thus He has the temple filled. 
O what a word ! Lord, God, fill us so the Holy Spirit 
will drive out the self man ! And I ? You will not be 



BOOK OF REVELATION 249 



helping at all. Have we attained unto this ? It would 
not be safe to say it, to say, "My folks at home never 
see any of me ; they only see Christ all the day long." 
If they say it is so, praise the Lord. But if it is not 
so, yield yourself day by day that it may be "Not I, 
but Christ" It is a glorious prospect, a glorious pos- 
sibility ! Shall I do it ? Don't you try. Well, you say, 
I will try. That would spoil the whole thing. That is 
just what we are talking about. That would be you. 
You will step out, if you please, and let the Lord take 
control. "Not I, but Christ." Lord Jesus make it so 
more and more in each of us, no man seen but only 
Christ. 

Chapter 16: i and 2, "And I heard a great voice out 
of the temple saying to the seven angels. Go your ways, 
and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the 
earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial 
upon the earth ; and there fell a noisome and grievous 
sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, 
and upon them which worshipped his image." You 
see all these chapters cover just a few years, all 
these records. A little while ago we read in the 
thirteenth chapter of the men who worshipped the 
beast, and here they are on the earth and there is a 
plague upon them. Do you think this is real? Why 
do you think otherwise? Surely there is something 
like it in the Old Testament. Moses scattered ashes 
and there came a boil on man and beast. This vial is 
poured on the earth and a noisome and grievous sore 
fell upon the men which had the mark of the beast and 
which worshipped his image. All judgments are a test 
if perchance they may repent. 

"And the second angel poured out his vial upon the 
sea ; and it became as the blood of a dead man : and 



250 



STUDIES IN THE 



every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel 
poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of 
waters ; and they became as blood." 

Why this looks very like one of the plagues of Egypt. 
We read, as it was in the day that God brought Israel 
out of Egypt, so it shall be in the days of Israel's resto- 
ration (Micah 7: 15). 

"And I heard the angel of the waters say. Thou art 
righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, 
because thou hast judged thus." That is the cry we 
ought to be ever crying. '*Thou art righteous O Lord, 
Thou art worthy O Lord, which art, and wast, and 
shalt be, because thou hast judged thus." 

"For they have shed the blood of saints and proph- 
ets, and thou hast given them blood to drink ; for they 
are worthy." "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall 
he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of 
the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the 
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." You 
cannot expect to reap other than you sow. Friends, 
what are you sowing? The crop will be fearful if you 
are sowing tares. It will be an awful crop. You al- 
ways reap more than you sow. "He that soweth the 
wind shall reap the whirlwind." If you have sowed 
that for which you are sorry, turn to God. There is 
plenteous redemption. The Lord grant that the reap- 
ing may be here, and not in eternity, and the reaper 
will turn us to God. 

"And I heard another out of the altar say. Even so, 
Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judg- 
ments." It makes us think of what our Lord said, 
when speaking of the unbelief and unthankfulness of 
Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, "I thank thee, O 
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast 



BOOK OF REVELATION 251 



hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast 
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father : for so it 
seemed good in thy sight/' Like old Eli who said, 
when they told him of the capture of the ark, ''It is the 
Lord. Even so, let him do what seemeth him good." 
Let us not find fault with God. 

"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the 
sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men 
with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and 
blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over 
these plagues: and they repented not to give him 
glory." As we saw in the ninth chapter, all that God 
does is that people may repent and turn to Him. You 
do not like the hot weather. There will be worse heat 
then than the thermometer 120 in the shade, when God 
will give the sun power to scorch men as a judgment 
from God, if perchance men may turn to God and be 
saved from eternal burning. We are surely living in 
strange times. Who can account for the weather of 
the past week? Who can account for the many things 
that are taking place? There is a God, and God is 
doing right. Whatever He does is to draw our hearts 
nearer to Him. This record is true and will come to 
pass. It will not likely come to pass to you, unless you 
are on the earth, unless you are out of Christ. If you 
ask why I think the Church will meet Him, all the 
Church, I give you this answer, ''They that are Christ's 
at His coming." That may include several transla- 
tions, but it will include all that are Christ's at His 
coming. 

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the 
seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of dark- 
ness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and 
blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains 
and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." It 



252 STUDIES IN THE 



would seem Christ would even forgive this wicked one 
if he would repent. Isn't this a startling story, a won- 
derful story of the love of God, to deliver man from 
the everlasting burning. If God will do all these things 
to deliver men from the everlasting burning, this ever- 
lasting burning must be something indescribable, some- 
thing fearful. The Lord make us believe His word. 

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the 
great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was 
dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be 
prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs 
come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the 
mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false 
prophet.'' The devil, false prophet and beast include 
all the false and evil teaching of to-day. 

''Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watch- 
eth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and 
they see his shame." It is always true, "Blessed is he 
that watcheth." 

"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the 
air ; and there came a great voice out of the temple of 
heaven, from the throne, saying. It is done. And there 
were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there 
was a great earthquake, such as was not since men 
were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so 
great." There have been some mighty earthquakes, 
but the greatest one is coming. "And there fell upon 
men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the 
weight of a talent." Hail stones weighing a talent, 
about one hundred pounds. Can God send stones from 
heaven weighing lOO pounds? In the time of Joshua 
there were more people killed with hail stones, than 
with the weapons of the army. And the greatest hail 
storm the world has ever seen will come, because God 
has said it. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



Whatever may come in the coming days, let our 
hearts be saying, ''J^st and true are Thy ways." But, 
O, let us, every believer be incessantly preaching the 
gospel. Say, ''Friend, have you got your pardon ? Do 
you know that your sins are forgiven ? Because if not, 
I am commissioned to offer you a pardon." Then pull 
out your pocket Testament and read Acts 13 : 38 and 
39, and John 6 : 37, and so on. O may every believer be 
a constant proclaimer of the great and glorious fact 
that the Lord Jesus Christ still receiveth sinners. If 
we are only sure we are in Christ, all is well. If the 
Lord come, all will be glorious for you. But what 
about the poor mortals who have not yet heard of the 
Saviour. Let us live to preach the Gospel. 

We thank Thee, Father, for that love which did 
send Christ Jesus into this world, that He miight live 
and die and rise again for us. We cannot tell what 
His sufferings were. We believe that the sufferings 
of His body were as nothing compared to the suffer- 
ings of His soul when He cried from the cross, ''My, 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." Truly, 
Lord Jesus Christ Thou hast suffered more than tongue 
can tell that we might be saved! And we have ac- 
cepted Thee, some of us, and believe that we are saved. 
Do our lives prove it? Are we constantly preaching 
forgiveness to those who love Thee not? Is the temple 
filled with Thy glory, or do our friends see in us more 
of the self life than of the Christ life? May it not be 
said of us that those who are not Christians are more 
humble, more lovely than those who believe in Christ 
and are Christians. What a stumbling block we would 
then be, but may we present our bodies a living sacri- 
fice that Thou mayest take full control, that henceforth 
it may be "Not I, but Christ." 



Chapters 17 and 18. 



Our meditation this afternoon is upon the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth chapters of Revelation, — the 
story of the overthrow of Babylon. 

It may interest some of you to know how the work 
goes as we come to the beginning of another month. 
The missionary money in connection with this work 
with which we are identified — the church, the Bible 
classes and this service, has been for the past four 
months something over ten thousand four hundred 
dollars. It -is a constant increase every year, and 
surely it is the increase of God. Of this $10,400, my 
own congregation has given something over $2,200, 200 
people giving over $2,200 in four months, all volun- 
tarily, cheerfully given to help hasten the coming of 
Christ and the time of the kingdom. It has been said 
that the premillennial coming of Christ cuts the nerve 
of missions. Evidently it is cutting the nerves of some 
people's pocketbooks. All our teaching is on the line 
of premillennialism, or the return of Christ at any mo- 
ment to catch away the Church. And that is the way 
it works. Surely the blessing of God is upon it. How 
could any one believe otherwise? Just believe God and 
keep on. About the finest thing I ever got hold of is to 
keep saying, "Thou art worthy O Lord, and I am for 
Thy pleasure.'' If we will just hold ourselves there, 
God will surely do something through us, blessed be 
His name ! Let us live to His glory. 

I will read a few verses at the beginning of the 
seventeenth chapter: "And there came one of the 

254 



BOOK OF REVELATION 255 



seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with 
me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto 
thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon 
many waters : with whom the kings of the earth have 
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth 
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornica- 
tion. So he carried me away in the spirit into the 
wilderness : and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet 
coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having 
seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was ar- 
rayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with 
gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden 
cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of 
her fornication : And upon her forehead was a name 
written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, 
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINA- 
TIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman 
drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the 
blood of the martyrs of Jesus : and when I saw her, I 
wondered with great admiration." 

These two chapters give us the story of the over- 
throw of Babylon, and if we can understand something 
of the significance of Babylon, then we shall be pre- 
pared to beware of Babylon, as far as possible be sep- 
arate from it, as far as God leads come out of it, and 
keep ourselves wholly for Him, who is the King of 
Zion. Babylon is the opposite of Zion. Zion is God's 
holy city, Jerusalem ; Babylon is the devil's city and is 
against God. 

The story of Babylon begins at least as far back as 
the eleventh of Genesis and beyond it judging from the 
last verse of the eighteenth chapter that it goes as far 
back as even Cain. See whether I am right. "And in 
her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and 



256 STUDIES IN THE 



of all that were slain upon the earth." Now if Baby- 
lon is responsible for the blood of all who were slain 
upon the earth, then the spirit of Babylon must reach 
back as far as to Abel and Cain, and Cain must have 
been the herald of the kingdom of Babylon. In the 
eleventh chapter of Genesis, however, we find the name 
for the first time, Babel or Babylon, where we read 
that men journeyed as far as the plain of Shinar and 
there they started to build a tower which should reach 
to heaven in order to, using their own words, ''make us 
a name/* And they were all of one language, and they 
seemed to have been quite united in this work of re- 
bellion against God ; for it was evidently a recognized 
rebellion against God, lest as they said "we be scat- 
tered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." It was 
God's purpose to scatter them on the earth ; but they 
said, ''No. Let us make us a name." You have in that 
story one of the principles of Babylon. Whatever aims 
to make a name against God is the spirit of Babylon. 
If a preacher or teacher, no matter who he or she may 
be, even in Christian work, has in his or her heart a 
desire for a name among men, there is in that heart 
the spirit of Babylon. We are here for one purpose, 
to make Him a name. Let us exalt His name, together 
make mention that His name is exalted. The one busi- 
ness of the believer is to honor, exalt, to magnify and 
make known the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Christ said in His last prayer, recorded in John 17, "I 
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou 
gavest me out of the world." He closed His prayer 
with these words, "I have declared unto them thy 
name, and will declare it." There is the spirit of 
Christ. There is true godliness. There is nothing of 
Babylon when Christ is exalted. In Isaiah 2: 17 you 



BOOK OF REVELATION 257 



have the same thought : ^'The loftiness of man shall be 
bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made 
low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that 
day." ''In that day," the time that is coming, when the 
Lord alone shall be exalted. If you can say from your 
heart to-day as in the sight of Him who searches the 
heart, "My cry, my song, my aim is that the Lord alone 
shall be exalted," then you have not the spirit of Baby- 
lon. 

We go on in the story to the record of the glory of 
Babylon in the days of Sennacherib and Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and you have the story of Babylon written 
quite fully in the Prophets. I think I asked you to read 
in connection with this Isaiah 13 and 14, and Jeremiah 
50 and 51. They will greatly help you in this story of 
Babylon. There are other passages, but these are lead- 
ing ones. We find in these chapters and in the story of 
Babylon as recorded elsewhere that the spirit of the 
kingdom was just the spirit of the tower of Babel, and 
of the people at that time. It was let us make us a 
name. I will read to you Daniel 4 : 30, where we have 
the spirit of Nebuchadnezzar, '^The king spake and 
said, Is not this great Babylon, that / have built for 
the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, 
and for the honour of my majesty ?" That is the spirit. 
It is a spirit that is wholly against God, exalting self, 
a spirit that needs nothing of God, and seeks nothing 
of God. The same thing is fully developed in the two 
chapters under consideration now. It might be 
summed up in this statement. Church and State against 
God,— a system, a religious system, a civil government 
wholly against God. Church and State against God. 
Oh the whoredom of the nations to be overthrown. 
In the fourteenth chapter the eighth verse we read, 
17 



258 STUDIES IN THE 



"There followed another angel, saying, Babylon is 
fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all 
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornica- 
tion." If you remember, we did not stop upon this 
verse in passing. Babylon is fallen. In last week's 
lesson chapter i6, verse 19, we read, "And the great 
city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the 
nations fell : and great Babylon came in remembrance 
before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the 
fierceness of his wrath." 

In Rev. 18 : 7 we read, "How much she hath glori- 
fied herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and 
sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a 
queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 
Therefore shall her plagues come in' one day, death, 
and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly 
burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who 
judgeth her." We may take this as a last statement 
summing up the whole thing, "She hath glorified her- 
self." Now we might talk upon it for an hour, and 
perhaps could not give it to you more concisely than 
in that statement, "She hath glorified herself." What 
is it to glorify one's self ? To glorify one's self is cer- 
tainly the very opposite of the spirit of Jesus Christ. 
Our Lord Jesus is the key to everything in Scripture. 
Would you know what is right? See Him. Would 
you know what is wrong? See Him. He would not 
do a wrong thing. He always did the right. I have 
been much impressed by a saying of Mr. Spurgeon, 
that whatever the Lord Jesus Christ would not think 
or say or do, that is sin. If we run on these lines and 
seek to avoid all that the Lord Jesus Christ would not 
think or say or do, we would be clear of Babylon. 
Christ never sought His own will. His own glory. He 



BOOK OF REVELATION 259 



ever sought the glory of God. ''I have glorified thee 
on the earth." 

Babylon is represented as a woman. Why should 
she be represented as a woman? In the seventeenth 
chapter you find she is represented as a woman and in 
chapter 18 as a city, and in the last verse of the seven- 
teenth, the two are put together, ''The woman which 
thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the 
kings of the earth." Notice then the union of the 
woman and the city. So whether it be a woman or a 
city, it is the same story of Babylon glorifying herself. 
The Bible begins, chapters i and 2, (I like to go over 
this) with the story of everything perfect on the earth, 
— man made in the image of God, and woman made an 
helpmeet for man, both in God's image; but in the 
third chapter in the Bible, we see this same woman, 
who was made as an helpmeet for man, we see her 
under the control of the devil and proving the ruin of 
man. Is it not interesting to notice that as we come 
to the end of the Bible, we come to where the woman 
is again the ruin of man, and in Rev. 21 : 22 we come 
to woman the glory of man, the one who will rule with 
Christ in the coming ages ? God has seen fit to give us 
these illustrations. He has also told us that when we 
turn from Him and from His loving ofifer of salvation, 
we are guilty of the sin which is here called whoredom 
and harlotry. In James 4:4, we read, '*Ye adulterers 
and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of 
the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore 
will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." So 
all this record is a description, an opening up, an un- 
folding of the hearts of people who go after that which 
is not of God. It began very early, away back in Eden. 
God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden all they needed. 



26o 



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all they could possibly need ; but the devil comes and 
suggests that they needed more than that, and they 
turn away from the truth to a lie. John 8:44, *'Ye 
are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your fa- 
ther ye will do. He was a murderer from the begin- 
ning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no 
truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of 
his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Jesus 
Christ is the truth, but the devil abode not in the truth, 
but became the father of lies. Whatever is of the devil 
is a lie. Whatever is of God is truth. This word is 
truth. Whatever is against this Book is of the ad- 
versary, and is of the nature of Babylon. 

In the fifth verse of the seventeenth chapter we have 
her name : "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, 
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINA- 
TIONS OF THE EARTH." Can it be Rome? 
Rome is included, but Rome does not fill the bill com- 
pletely. God can show us this Babylon in the Greek 
and Protestant church as well as in the Roman. Every- 
thing that tends to exalt self is Babylon. It is a much 
larger story, it is as old as Cain, reaches on to the pres- 
ent day, and a little beyond it. Whatever is not of 
God and of the truth, partakes of the nature of this 
wicked one. ''Mystery, Babylon the great." "Great 
is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh." 
You see the other phase of this story, friends. There 
are practical truths which we need not stop upon, as 
you can see them very readily without much light. 
There is hardly a thing we have considered which does 
not touch our daily lives. Am I in any way associated 
with this Mystery which is against God? Is there 
manifest in me as an individual (let each one say) any- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 261 



thing of the self Hfe, or am I living to manifest the 
Christ life, God in me? 

Her name then is ''Mystery, Babylon the great." 
Second Thess. 2 : 7, ''For the mystery of iniquity doth 
already work: only he who now letteth will let (or 
hinder), until he be taken out of the way." The "Mys- 
tery," but there is a hindrance, so the full development 
of Babylon is not yet. 

Look at her clothing. Verse 4. How gorgeously, 
how wonderfully arrayed, "purple and scarlet color, 
and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls." 
Contrast the clothing of the Bride in the nineteenth 
chapter, "clothed in fine linen, white and clean." Is 
there not a word for us even here? Is there not in this 
gorgeous apparel a word for us? I think every child 
of God should avoid everything gaudy for fear she 
might look like the HARLOT. Whatever is becoming 
and neat and plain is always proper. Just think of this 
wicked one, and perhaps it may help us even in this 
matter of ordinary dress. 

Verse 3, "I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored 
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads 
and ten horns." She is seated upon the dragon. Just 
think of this wicked one supported by the devil ! Is 
there not a very searching thought in this connection 
when the Church of to-day asks the devil for support? 
But do they really do that? Do they not do it? If a 
so-called church seeks to obtain from the world (and 
you know the world lieth in the wicked one, those who 
are not children of God are children of the devil) ; if 
any so-called church seeks in any way by fairs or so- 
ciables or anything of the kind, seeks from the world 
anything to carry on God's work, is that not like the 
woman riding on the devil? Something like it. If we 



262 



STUDIES IN THE 



understood Babylon, we would be separated from it; 
we would say, "Lord, lead me in Thy way/' In my lit- 
tle church in Germantown, we are a poor lot, but there 
is one thing we are trying to do, and that is to des- 
perately avoid anything but severe simplicity ; and we 
look not to anything outside of the Gospel, not even 
coffee and cake for the Christian Endeavorers. Three 
years and a half ago, when I first came there, the young 
people asked me if they could have a sociable. I said, 
**Yes, have one, and let us see what it is like/* It was 
a very innocent, harmless thing. And they asked me if 
they could have another one. I said, ''Yes, when I 
leave, but not until then." The house of God is not to 
eat in. We have our homes to eat in. When we get 
simple enough, and old-fashioned enough, when we 
live just to magnify Christ, and avoid every association 
with the world, I beheve God will bless us. Is He not 
blessing us in our little church in Germantown? 
Where can you find anything more being done in the 
line of missions? What have we here to attract you 
from week to week? Yet still you come to hear this 
old story, these old truths. Somehow you seem to put 
up with it. May the Lord bless you and write them 
upon your hearts and lead you to pass them on ; and 
let us be in every possible way separated from the devil 
and all his works. Remember Babylon is sin sup- 
ported by this wicked one. 

The heads and horns — all this is fully explained in 
this chapter. Just read in this chapter and you will 
see the meaning of them. 

One word about the many waters. You will see that 
the many waters where the woman sat are peoples and 
tongues and nations. What a contrast to the Church 
of Christ! This great apostasy, this great system of 



BOOK OF REVELATION 263 



Babylon, rules over the world. What a contrast to the 
Church, the Church of Christ, as a little company, a 
little flock gathered out of all countries, and tongues 
and peoples. 

But notice, some people say the voice of the people 
is the voice of God. The voice of the people is far 
more apt to be the voice of the devil than the voice of 
God. The voice of God is apt to be in contrast to the 
voice of the people. Pharaoh in Egypt had the voice 
of the people, but Israel, poor feeble Israel had God. 
In the days of Sennacherib, Sennacherib had the peo- 
ple, had the power, and Hezekiah had no power to re- 
sist Sennacherib, but he had God with him, and God 
with Hezekiah was more than the thousands of Sen- 
nacherib. For when the one angel went forth in an- 
swer to Hezekiah's and Isaiah's prayers, — the one angel 
from heaven, — 185,000 of Sennacherib's army breathed 
no more. It is not people, not numbers, but it is the 
little flock which prays and relies upon Him. Job 
served the Lord in the Lord's way. Let us serve the 
Lord in the Lord's way, and He will show you His 
power and will show you His victory. 

We pass on a moment to the eighteenth chapter. We 
see the city now. It needs no comment, I think. It is 
a simple story. It is the story of a city the centre of 
commerce. But this great commercial centre is over- 
thrown suddenly, and kings and merchants and ship- 
masters and sailors all bewail the overthrow of this 
city. 

We have been speaking of Babylon as a system. 
What about the city? There is no city to-day. Turn 
to Isaiah 13, the close of the chapter, verse 19, and 
there you will see that Babylon "the glory of kingdoms, 
the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency" is to be over- 



264 



STUDIES IN THE 



thrown as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 
Now that was a mighty and complete overthrow. It 
is written there that no one shall pitch his tent there 
any more. It is written in Isaiah 13 that Babylon 
shall be ever a desolation. Now that has never been 
fulfilled. This destruction has never yet been literally 
true, absolutely, and what has not been fulfilled, awaits 
fulfillment. In the beginning of Isaiah 4 is the story 
of Israel's restoration. In Isaiah 13 and 14 and in 
Jeremiah 50 to 51 you will see the overthrow of Baby- 
lon and the restoration of Israel associated again and 
again and again. 

Israel's redemption and Babylon's overthrow— re- 
demption for God's people, judgment for God's ene- 
mies. Now we know that Israel has never yet been 
as a nation redeemed. There is no nation of Israel on 
the earth. To anyone reading the newspapers, it is 
very evident that something is about to happen in the 
history of this age. We are surely in the very close of 
this age. The people of the next age will see the over- 
throw of this iniquitous Babylon in Church and State 
and the conversion of Israel. Isaiah 14, the first three 
verses say, *'The Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and 
will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land : 
and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they 
shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people 
shall take them, and bring them to their place : and the 
house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the 
Lord for servants and handmaids : and they shall 
take them captives, whose captives they were; and 
they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall 
come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee 
rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from 
the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve." 



BOOK OF REVELATION 265 



"O," you say, '*that was fulfilled when Israel came back 
from Babylon." They came back in the days of Ze- 
rubbabel. You can see if you take the trouble from 
Nehemiah's testimony in reference to this prophecy, 
''that they shall rule over their enemies," how that 
turned out. Perhaps a hundred years after the first 
return in the days of Ezra, Nehemiah says, ''They have 
ruled over us." So we simply say that the prophecies 
concerning Babylon in the Prophets have not yet been 
fulfilled, and the fulfilment of those prophecies em- 
brace necessarily the restoration of Israel. Is there any- 
thing in Scripture that points to it? Yes, a good deal. 

In Zech. 5, the Prophet had a series of seven or 
eight visions in one night. One of his visions was of a 
woman in an ephah or bushel, bushel there represent- 
ing commerce. How significant that saying of Christ's 
is, not to put your light under a bushel. Surely this 
means at least, do not let business cover up your Chris- 
tianity. Let your light shine out and burn up the 
bushel rather than let the bushel hide the light. An 
out-and-out Christian ought to be known as such in his 
business, the way he buys and sells. Well then, Zech- 
ariah 5, there is a story of an ephah and a woman is 
put in the bushel and a lid of lead covers up the woman, 
and two women with wings like the wings of a stork 
pick up this bushel and carry it away to set it upon its 
own base, and the prophet has told us this is wicked- 
ness. Now there is wickedness associated with com- 
merce. And they carried her to the plain of Shinar 
where they built the tower of Babel and set her upon 
her own, base. Commerce is not necessarily wicked. 
Should not be. But there is a great deal of wicked- 
ness connected with it. In the Apocrypha, in Ec- 
clesiasticus, (not Ecclesiastes,) you read, "As a nail 



266 



STUDIES IN THE 



sticketh fast between the joinings of the stones; so 
doth sin stick close between buying and seUing." Prov- 
erbs has something more to say about it, — the buyer 
says one thing and the seller says another. That 
prophecy in Zechariah seems to point to a great com- 
mercial centre in that part of the world ere this age 
comes to a close. Then, you think, it is almost time 
to commence to build it. They can get up a city in 
a very short time. Look at the Chicago fair, where 
they put in all the world in a year or two. It will not 
take many years to put up the biggest city of the world. 
They will do it very quickly when they start. Will it 
not be the devil's own city ! That will be the city to go 
to for recreation. God will let it go on for a time, but 
the whole thing will be destroyed after a time. The 
summing up of all iniquity, the summing up of Church 
and State is summed up in Babylon. 

But we have a better word for you, something more 
attractive: 17:14, "These shall make war with the 
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them : for he is 
Lord of lords, and King of kings : and they that are 
with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." "The 
Lamb shall overcome them." Is not that a good word, 
friends? I want to stand with that Lamb. Don't you? 
Behold the Lamb of God, whom the devil hates, whom 
Babylon hates, whom the world hates, and you might 
safely say, whom the professing church hates! They 
cannot stand the Lamb. There is not enough show 
about Him. He is too meek, too lowly, too much of a 
nobody. "He is despised and rejected of men, a man 
of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Look up in 
His face, and say, "O blessed Lamb of God, thou didst 
die for me, and I am Thine." Here are some texts 
to be used with sinners : O Lamb of God Thou hast 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



267 



said, ''Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast 
out." (John 6:37.) Thou hast said, ''He that be- 
lieveth on me hath everlasting life." (John 6:47.) 
Thou hast said, "Being justified freely by his grace 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," by 
Thy Apostle Paul in Romans 3 : 24. Ephesians 2 : 8, 
"By grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of 
yourselves : it is the gift of God." Titus 3 : 5, "Not 
by works of righteousness which we have done, but 
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of 
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." And 
so you might go on all through the Bible. The Bible 
is full of them. Pick them out for yourselves. If you 
live upon them and they get hold of you, you will easily 
use them with people you meet. 

The Lamb shall overcome and they that are with him 
are called, and chosen, and faithful. Friends He is 
calling us. He is not only calling us to be saved, He 
is calling us to be His faithful followers. He is calling 
some of you to go down to the prisons and speak for 
Christ there. Calling to service. The Apostles had to 
be called more than once before they left their fishing 
boats. We are called and chosen. What are we chosen 
for? The doctrine of election some people do not like. 
It is an election not to heaven merely, we are called 
and chosen, that is God has chosen people to be holy. 
God never decreed anyone to perish. "God is not will- 
ing that anyone should perish." If people perish they 
go against the way of God and the will of God. We 
are chosen to be holy and faithful : that is, we look to 
Him who is faithful. We do not sing, '^Surely the 
Captain can depend upon me." That is a very poor 
song. You do not know yourself. All we can do is to 
depend upon Him who is faithful. He calls us. 



268 



STUDIES IN THE 



And then we read ''He is King of kings and Lord of 
lords." Why then should we turn aside to the devil 
and his works and his followers for help in the Lord's 
cause. I have just one aim in life : to be more like the 
Lamb ''until we see Him face to face." 

In the last part of chapter 17, we read, verse 17, 
"For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and 
to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until 
the words of God shall be fulfilled." "The words of 
God shall be fulfilled." Now that is true concerning 
Babylon, and concerning the kingdom of Christ — the 
words of God shall be fulfilled. I do not know any 
verse I have written lately more than this, "Every pur- 
pose of the Lord shall be performed." Jer. 51:29. 
The whole verse reads, "Every purpose of the Lord 
shall be performed against Babylon." If against Baby- 
lon, how much more on behalf of His people. Isaiah 
14 : 24 : "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying. 
Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass ; and 
as I have purposed, so shall it stand." 

Let us pray : 

O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee that 
notwithstanding all the conflict of these thousands of 
years, notwithstanding all the Babylon spirit, notwith- 
standing the adversary of God and man, and his lies 
and his power, we thank Thee that the time will come 
when the Lamb of God shall be acknowledged by all 
on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. Blessed 
Lamb of God, Thou art worthy. Oh may we who bear 
Thy name live to proclaim Thy worthiness. Let us not 
disgrace that name. Let us not dishonor that name by 
inconsistencies or by selfishness, or by anything of the 
spirit of Babylon. O Lord deliver us from anything 



BOOK OF REVELATION 269 



like self-exaltation, self-praise, and may we have grace, 
if called upon, to lay down our lives for Christ's sake, 
and daily to die unto self, sin and the world, that Christ 
may be glorified. May the cry of each redeemed soul 
here be, ''O Lamb of God, let me be one of Thy called, 
and chosen and faithful followers until I see Thee face 
to face." Let us persevere and be not deceived by the 
father of lies, and say to any unsaved soul, ''Come now, 
and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool," 
''For him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." 
Lord, may some soul here to-day pass from death unto 
life, and Thine shall be the glory. 



Chapter 19. 

Responsive reading the one hundred and fourth 
Psalm from the twenty-fourth verse. 

I have read this section v/ith you because here is the 
first hallelujah in the Bible. It is worth noting. We 
shall find the word four times in our Revelation study, 
but this is the very first time it occurs in all Scripture. 
"My meditation of him shall be sweet." That is al- 
ways in order. "I will be glad in the Lord," our privi- 
lege continually. Verse 32 : "He looketh on the earth, 
and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they 
smoke." These are words of judgment. Verse 36, 
"Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let 
the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my 
soul. Praise ye the Lord." We see the first hallelujah 
in Scripture is found in connection with the overthrow 
of the ungodly. Note the fact. 

Our meditation is in Revelation 19. I will read a 
few verses at the beginning of this chapter, "And after 
these things I heard a great voice of much people m 
heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and 
honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true 
and righteous are his judgments : for he hath judged 
the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her 
fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants 
at her hand. And again they said. Alleluia. And her 
smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and 
twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down 
and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saymg, 
Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, 

270 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that 
fear him, both small and great And I heard as it 
were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice 
of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder- 
ings, saying, Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor 
to him : for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his 
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted 
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and 
white : for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which 
are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And 
he saith unto me. These are the true sayings of God. 
And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said 
unto me, See thou do it not : I am thy f ellowservant, 
and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus : 
worship God : for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit 
of prophecy." 

I think that is the first section of this chapter. There 
are three sections : the marriage of the Lamb ; the re- 
turn from the marriage ; and the overthrow of God's 
enemies— the beast and the false prophet. 

''After these things," the chapter begins. That leads 
us back over the book. I wonder if after all these 
studies, you could give an outline of the book. Do 
you think it over through the week sometimes? Do 
you meditate upon it ? In the first chapter we see the 
Lord Jesus Christ as the great high priest in the midst 
of the churches. We know only one High Priest. 
There is only one High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ. 
We will be kings and priests with Him, but we are 
waiting for His coming back again, we are being edu- 
cated for the priesthood. 

Chapters 2 and 3, His last message to the church on 



272 STUDIES IN THE 

earth, telling us the things which He likes and the 
things which He does not like. Four and five, the 
church seen in glory in the form of the living creatures 
and the elders, possibly more than the church, but the 
church at least, taken away from the earth, caught up, 
translated. Six to eighteen inclusive, events on earth 
between the taking away of the church and our coming 
back again,— the time of the great tribulation,— the 
time of Jacob's trouble. In the sixth chapter, we see 
six of the seals broken, the little book begun to be 
opened, and there come judgments upon the earth. In 
the seventh we see the 144,000 of Israel sealed and left 
on the earth to go through the judgments, and then we 
see a great multitude come out of the great tribulation. 
Some ask, "Where do you find authority for thinking 
there will be a great revival after the church is gone?" 
I answer, in chapters 6 and 7 I see our Lord winning 
a great victory. Some say it is Antichrist. I thnik it 
looks more like Christ than Antichrist. In chapter 7 
we read of a "great multitude, which no man could 
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
tongues," come out of the great tribulation. We all 
have tribulation. That is the privilege of the saints ; 
but it is a matter of great gratitude that we shall never 
see the great tribulation. 

In chapter 8, we see the breaking of the seventh 
seal; and the seven seals lead us to consider seven 
trumpets. In this chapter we have the breaking of the 
seventh seal and the sounding of four of the trumpets. 
In the ninth we have the sounding of the fifth and 
sixth trumpets, when hell shall be let loose on the earth 
for a while to let people see what Satan's administra- 
tion would be like, if perchance they would repent and 
turn to God. John saw the future. He saw in chapter 



BOOK OF REVELATION 273 



9 the bottomless pit opened. In chapter 10 we saw the 
Great DeHverer, the Lord Jesus Christ placing one foot 
on the sea and one foot on the land, with a little book 
wide open in His hand, and He says, ''There shall be 
time (or delay) no longer." Events hasten on rapidly. 
In the eleventh chapter you have God's two witnesses 
testifying in Jerusalem those 1,260 days, forty-two 
months, time, times and the dividing of time, or three 
and one-half years. They testify until their work is 
finished. Then they are killed and their bodies lie un- 
buried in Jerusalem three days, and then they come to 
life and go up to God. In the last part of the eleventh 
chapter we see a summary of the events of the rest of 
the book. 

In the twelfth we saw the w^oman and the child 
and the dragon. The woman we took to be Is- 
rael ; the child, an elect remnant of Israel, which with 
the church, makes up the complete child — one man, 
one with Christ, Christians and other redeemed ones. 
Whether the church and the elect of Israel are this 
man child, I do not know, but some think so. They 
would seem to make up the one new man, the man 
child, who with Christ will rule the earth. The devil 
hates this woman and tries to kill her and the child, 
but is not allowed. Chapter 13, the devil's partners, 
the beast and the false prophet. Chapter 14 you have 
several items. You see the 144,000 with the Lamb on 
mount Sion, and you have those other statements con- 
cerning the fall of Babylon, and the harvest and the 
vintage, and the blessing that accompanies the death of 
those who die in the Lord at that time. In fifteen and 
sixteen you have the seven vials of the wrath of God. 
In seventeen and eighteen you have the fall of Babylon. 

And now what? ''After these things I heard a great 
18 



274 



STUDIES IN THE 



voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia." I 
find it a very helpful practice to notice the first use of 
a word or phrase in Scripture. I find that the connec- 
tion in which you find a word for the first time, throws 
light upon its full meaning wherever you find it. The 
word "Alleluia" or "praise the Lord" is found for the 
first time in the 104th Psalm. There it is in connec- 
tion with the overthrow of the ungodly. Here's the 
first in the New Testament. Two of the greatest of all 
Hebrew words (the same in all languages) are "Hal- 
lelujah" and "Amen." If two strangers from differ- 
ent countries met and one said "Hallelujah" and the 
other "Amen," they would hold quite a conversation. 
"Praise the Lord." "So let it be." "Praise ye JAH." 
Not Jehovah, and I think it is not a contraction of the 
word "Jehovah," because the words JAH JEHOVAH 
are in two places. Canon Fausset gives this meaning 
to Jehovah, Him who was, who is, and is to come. 
"Jah" Him who is. It is a great fact, one of the great- 
est, that God lives. Hebrews 11:3, "Through faith 
we understand that the worlds were framed by the 
word of God, so that things which are seen were not 
made of things which do appear." The Bible begins 
with that statement so glorious, "In the beginning God 
created the heaven and the earth." If we cannot be- 
lieve that we cannot believe anything, there is no use 
going any further. There is no Bible for the infidel 
because he cannot take in the first words. Jehovah 
seems to signify Him who was and is and is to come, 
seems to take in God in all His fullness. "Jah" Him 
who is. He is in our midst to-day in the presence of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not trying to give you 
anything from our words, we speak what we find in 
His Book, and leave it to Him to bring forth the fruit, 



BOOK OF REVELATION 275 



for He is able to take care of it, and He will be to you 
all you wish Him to be. ''Hallelujah, praise ye the 
Lord," Him who is : 

''And I heard as it were the voice of a great multi- 
tude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice 
of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia : for the Lord 
God omnipotent reigneth." 

You see the time is coming w^ien all kings shall fall 
down before Him, when all nations shall serve Him. 
Then whatever may come of heat or cold, storm or 
tempest, earthquake or deluge, wars or rumors of wars, 
we are sure that the time will come when all nations 
shall worship the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a grand fact 
that if we die any day we go to be with Him, resting 
over there, waiting for the time when he shall come; 
if He comes while we live, we are to be caught up to 
meet Him, and return with Him when He comes to 
reign. Our great joy is, or ought to be, that the time 
shall come when all nations shall serve Him. 

"Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto 
the Lord our God." "Salvation" is one of the largest 
words in the Bible. It includes our personal welfare, 
and the forgiveness of our sins; and that is all that 
some see in the word. I am saved, I have salvation, I 
have received Christ. That is only one meaning of the 
word. It certainly means your salvation and the for- 
giveness of your sins. But it means more than that. 
It means the salvation of your body, for as sure as we 
have a redeemed soul, the bodies that we have, these 
mortal bodies, shall become immortal. That is the 
meaning of the words, "Now is our salvation nearer 
than when we believed." (Romans 13:11.) There 
would be no sense in saying that if it referred to the 
soul, but it refers to the redemption of the body. But 



276 STUDIES IN THE 



it has a larger meaning than that. It takes in the re- 
demption of the whole church, the body of Christ. It 
means more than that. It takes in the redemption of 
all Israel. I do not say those who have lived and died 
in sin; but the nation will be a saved nation, saved with 
an everlasting salvation. It means more than that. 
(Chapter 21.) *'The nations of them which are saved 
shall walk in the light of it : and the kings of the earth 
do bring their glory and honour into it." What a word 
is salvation : the forgiveness of my sins, redemption of 
my body, the salvation of all the members of Christ's 
body, the church, the salvation of all Israel, and the 
salvation of all nations on the earth. It is all in Christ, 
for ''Salvation is of the Lord." That you find in the 
latter part of the second chapter of Jonah. There is 
another verse you might put with that : ''Salvation is 
of the Jews." John 4 : 22. Hold the two statements. 
Is it any wonder that I love the Jews? My salvation 
to-day depends upon a Jew. I am here a saved sinner 
through the love of a Jew. I have the forgiveness of 
sins because the King of the Jews died on Calvary. 
This Bible belongs to the Jews, because they have given 
it to us. If you do not love the Jews it is a very 
strange thing. They will be the first nation converted 
on the earth, and through them shall all nations be 
blessed. "Salvation is of the Lord." "Salvation is of 
the Jews." "They shall prosper who love thee." This 
Book of Revelation largely concerns Israel. I use the 
two terms synonymously. It is not right always to do 
so. There is a difference between Jews and Israel. I 
use them in a general sense just now. 

"Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto 
the Lord our God." Listen to some beautiful words 
that fell from the lips of David, king of Israel, "Thine, 



BOOK OF REVELATION 277 



O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the 
glory, and the victory, and the majesty : for all that is 
in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the 
kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above 
all." (i Chron. 29: 11.) That is a part of the prayer 
that David prayed after he had contributed his millions 
of dollars toward the Temple. A man can pray better 
when he has given a good deal to God. 

"He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt 
the earth with her fornication." That is the Harlot. 
Everything corrupting shall be judged. The devil cor- 
rupts; the Lord Jesus Christ purifies. The devil de- 
stroys and devours, he is a murderer ; the Lord Jesus 
Christ is life, and all that is included in life, and He 
will yet destroy all that is evil on the earth for : ''the 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Many a time you 
read in the Psalms, the ninety-third, the ninety-seventh 
and the ninety-ninth, ''the Lord reigneth." Now that 
is a prophetic word. That time has not come yet. The 
Lord is not reigning on the earth yet. That is in the 
future for a King to judge the earth. Unless your eyes 
are looking on to the coming of the glory, you cannot 
understand many of the Psalms. What do you do with 
all those imprecatory Psalms that speake of vengeance, 
as the first Psalms and the eighteenth of Luke: the 
story of the widow and the unjust judge and the cry 
for vengeance. The church does not cry for venge- 
ance. That is not in our vocabulary at all. Christ 
"when He suffered. He threatened not." Vengeance 
is in connection with the restoration of Israel. What 
is the meaning of "Be ye angry and sin not"? That 
comes from the fourth Psalm. It is just a quotation 
from that Psalm. The Revised Version, "Be angry 
and sin not." The rest of the verse is, "Commune with 



278 



STUDIES IN THE 



your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah." 
Do you know what to do when you are angry, — go to 
bed and shut the door. That is the receipt for being 
angry and yet sinning not. That is the way to do it. 
Go away and hide yourself until you get quiet, and let 
the Lord attend to you. We have not to do with venge- 
ance. We have to do with love, not the love that is 
not easily provoked, but the love that is not provoked. 
(Revised Version.) 

''Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him : for 
the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 
made herself ready." Here is a cry from all heaven. 
Let us be glad and rejoice to give honor to Him. If 
that is our aim, we will not get far off the track. If 
we want honor for ourselves, we will be led astray. 

Is it not very interesting that the Bible opens with 
a marriage and the Bible closes with a marriage? 
God, when He had made the world all beautiful, made 
man in His own image, to be here as His representa- 
tive: man on the earth for God, God in heaven for 
man. And He made him an helpmeet for him, a suit- 
able companion, He took a rib, a part of Adam's body 
and builded a woman, and gave her to Adam to be an 
helpmeet for him, and He gave them dominion over all 
the earth. That is the way the Bible story opens. 
Here is the close of it : thq marriage of the Lamb. 
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: 
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife 
hath made herself ready." As truly as there was an 
Adam in Eden — that is no myth. What is the matter 
with people ? What can possess a man when he stands 
up and says, ''It is poetry, nothing in it"? Surely the 
devil gets hold of people. Our Lord Jesus Christ en- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 279 



dorsed that story, the story of Adam and Eve, and 
everything else in the Bible. As truly as there was a 
first Adam and Eve in the first marriage, so truly is 
there a last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, and so truly 
is there a new Eve, the Church, and by and by there 
will be a marriage. Let us rejoice and give honor to 
Him. 

What is the marriage day? That is the day when 
the man publicly takes to himself the wife he has 
chosen and she takes him, and they are one. The mar- 
riage day of the Lamb is the day when before the whole 
universe the Lord will acknowledge you as a part of 
His body. It will be a public acknowledgment of the 
oneness of the church with Christ. Surely if we real- 
ized that, we would live more as one with Christ now. 
It is a matter of joy. I do not know anything grander, 
as I stand here and talk to you, than the fact that I am 
a part of Christ in heaven. That is not presumption. 
The Bible tells me so. You have a right to say every 
day and all day long, "I thank Thee I am a part of 
Thee," if you have accepted Him as your Saviour. 
That is the key to it all. And the time will come when 
you will acknowledge Him as yours before the uni- 
verse. 

Now what is the bride's clothing? Fine linen, pure 
and white. What a contrast to the gorgeous array of 
the woman we read about last week. What is the one 
thing that makes us ready to meet Christ, if He should 
call you out of this body? It is a simple thing to be 
ready. If you receive Him, if you have received Him, 
He who knew no sin, having been made sin for you, 
you are righteous in Him. What was the matter with 
the man at the wedding feast in Luke ? He had not on 
a wedding garment. Why did he not have on a wed- 



28o 



STUDIES IN THE 



ding garment? He refused to accept one. They were 
all prepared. He preferred his own clothes. Adam 
and Eve when they sinned, accepted the clothing pre- 
pared for them by God, the coats of skins. When we 
accept Christ, we are clothed in His righteousness. Do 
let us when we have accepted Him sing these words 
in Isaiah 6i : lo, ''I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, 
my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed 
me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me 
with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom deck- 
eth himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth 
herself with her jewels." 

''To her was granted that she should be arrayed in 
fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the 
righteousness of saints.'' Revised version : "the right- 
eous acts of the saints." For when Christ becomes 
righteousness in us and to us, He expects us to live out 
that righteousness in our daily lives — the righteousness 
of the law fulfilled in us, ''who walk not after the flesh, 
but after the Spirit." We are not saved because of 
works. That is the evidence to man that we are saved. 
God needs no such evidence. Titus 3 : 8, "This is a 
faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm 
constantly, that they which have believed in God might 
be careful to maintain good works. These things are 
good and profitable unto men." 

The marriage of the Lamb shall come. The bride 
shall be ready, arrayed in fine linen, the righteousness 
of Christ, His righteousness imputed to us, worked out 
in us. 

At the very beginning of Christ's public work, His 
first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding. 
Surely that is suggestive. A good word came from 
Hebron a little while ago. It was, "Fill the water pots 



BOOK OF REVELATION 281 



with water, and the Lord will look after the supply of 
wine." After I had given this out at one of the classes, 
some one sent me a letter saying that reminded him of 
a story of a woman who had wonderfully good chil- 
dren, and shq was asked how she brought them up. 
She repHed, '1 fills 'm and fills 'm and fills 'm with 
textes." "Well then, what then?" "Why I fills 'm 
and fills 'em and fills 'm with textes." "And what 
then?" And the third time she said, "I fills 'm and fills 
'm and fills 'm with textes (as she called them) and the 
Lord turns the water into wine." If we fill ourselves 
with God's word. He will turn the water into wine. 
Be glad and rejoice by being filled with His word. 
Wine is the symbol of joy. (I am not talking temper- 
ance now. I am giving you the Bible meaning of 
wine.) 

The marriage of the Lamb is coming. The marriage 
of Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, the marriage of Boaz and 
Ruth and of Solomon, some of these have some refer- 
ence, some suggestions concerning the marriage of the 
Lamb that is coming. We are looking forward to the 
marriage day. If you are saved and are thus sure that 
you will be a part of the bride of Christ, do you know 
there are others whom you might call? Does the mar- 
riage occupy much of your attention? Do you say 
during the week to those whom you meet, "Are you 
going to the marriage?" "What marriage?" "The 
marriage of the Lamb." "O you have been to a Bible 
class," they will say. Ask it honestly, earnestly, gladly, 
because you are going, and perhaps you will bring 
some along with you. But is it not strange when there 
is a marriage, an earthly marriage, you look forward 
to it with expectancy, wonder what you will wear, and 
so on. Now, if we are Christ's, we are on the way to 



282 



STUDIES IN THE 



the marriage, as I understand it. ''Blessed are they 
which are called unto the marriage supper of the 
Lamb." Let us be glad and rejoice that somebody may 
think we believe what we say. 

"And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of 
God." This is added lest some one might say "Non- 
sense" to these things. They are the true sayings of 
God. And John was so overcome he fell at his feet to 
worship him. I wonder if this messenger looked so 
like Christ that John did not know the difference. I 
wonder if John thought Christ was talking to him. If 
so, there is something very helpful in that. You know 
we are going to be like Christ some day. I do not 
think John would dare to worship this messenger if he 
knew he was not Christ. Was this man a redeemed 
soul? Possibly. He may have been an angel, or he 
may have been a redeemed soul. We may have to wait 
to ask John to find that out. 

"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." 
What do you think of prophecy? It is a good time to 
study prophecy. Man will count you f ooHsh if you do. 
The Lord will count you foolish if you don't. Let us 
be foolish in men's eyes rather than in God's. "The 
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In that 
day our Lord walked to Emmaus, He talked to those 
two men in all the prophets the things concerning Him- 
self. You will not like them much unless you see your 
Lord there, and the story of the coming that you are 
interested in. Are you not interested about the home 
you are going to have? If some poor woman in this 
city was going to marry a Duke or Marquis, she would 
no doubt read about the estate she was going to man- 
age. Do read the Prophets, read up about the estate. 
The Prophets are full of it. They tell what is coming. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 283 



"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white 
horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful 
and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and 
make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his 
head were many crowns ; and he had a name written, 
that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed 
with a vesture dipped in blood : and his name is called 
The Word of God. And the armies which were in 
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine 
linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a 
sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations : 
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he 
treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of 
Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his 
thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND 
LORD OF LORDS." This is the return from the 
marriage, the honeymoon, the trip after the marriage. 
"And I saw heaven opened." Just seven times do you 
read "heaven opened," and every time you read 
"heaven opened" in Scripture, it is always to reveal 
something of Christ. Here's "heaven opened, and be- 
hold a white horse." Now see yourselves, friends, in- 
stead of sitting here as we are to-day, some of these 
days you will be coming down with Christ out of 
heaven upon white horses. "Nonsense." "These are 
the true sayings of God." 

What is He coming to do? "In righteousness he 
doth judge and make war." We have been reading of 
judgments upon the beast and false prophet. But those 
judgments were intended to lead people to repent. 
This is different. What to do? To take vengeance 
upon His enemies ; and as you read on to the end of 
the chapter, you will see that the beast and the false 
prophet are sent to the lake of fire. For the armies of 



284 STUDIES IN THE 



the beast and false prophet gathered into the Holy 
Land from Jerusalem to Esdraelon ''to make war 
against him that sat on the horse, and against his 
army/' The army of the North, the Russians, will take 
the lead, (Read Ezekiel 38 and 39) the army from the 
north, Russia, which is so wonderfully getting control 
of things just now. I will read a little extract I have: 
"Nicholas II is a young man, and it is hardly to be ex- 
pected that he will be so aggressive as his father or 
more remote ancestors, but pan-Slavism is a propa- 
ganda that depends not alone on the person of the Czar, 
who is surrounded by counsellors devoted to Russian 
interests. The importance of the coming ceremonies 
consists not in the formal coronation, but in the em- 
phasis of the fact that Russia is a far greater power in 
the world than ever. The Russians are Orientalists, 
and the whole power of the Orient has been gradually 
growing of late years. Can it be that the geographical 
section that so long dominated the world, whose civiH- 
zation was thousands of years old when the whole of 
Europe was barbarous, is again looking to the leader- 
ship of the earth?'' It is even so, friends. Russia is 
looming up. The end is drawing near. Russia from 
the north, with all the armies of the world working 
with them, will come down to Palestine, inveigled by 
the devil to make war with God. They will actually 
assemble in the Holy Land to make war against the 
Son of God. And He will come down from heaven, and 
you will be there, and the slaughter will be perfectly 
fearful, so that it will take seven months to bury the 
dead. Read it, and you will see what is coming. ''The 
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." And so 
He will go upon the white horse with His army and 
overthrow His enemies, judge the nations and bring in 



BOOK OF REVELATION 285 



the kingdom. Next week we will talk about the thou- 
sand years of Christ's reign, the millennium. Other 
events will follow at His coming. We have come to 
the most interesting part of this Bible. Read and mem- 
orize. Hold to the facts, and see yourselves as part of 
this army. ''The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 
Every moment let us be for God, in our daily lives for 
God, private and public for God. Let us say, ''O Lamb 
of God what wilt Thou have me to do to-day." May 
we be manifestly chosen and called to follow the Lamb 
whithersoever He goeth. Let us pray. 

We thank Thee blessed Lord, for the time that is 
coming, when it shall be cried, ''The Lord God om- 
nipotent reign eth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give 
honour to him : for the marriage of the Lamb is come, 
and his wife hath made herself ready.'' Oh may a 
great peace steal over our hearts now as we look up 
and thank Thee that we have received Christ, we are 
one with Him for ever. As we go out of this room 
and walk the street, or worship Thee anywhere this 
evening, and as we go to our work to-morrow, may the 
thought take hold of us with mighty power — a part of 
Christ,— a part of Him as He stands in heaven, my 
great High Priest. He will overcome all His enemies, 
be King of kings and Lord of lords. Blessed Lord 
Jesus Christ, give us such a whole-hearted desire just 
to please Thee, honor Thee, to give glory to Thy name. 
May we be found down here for Thee, until we see 
Thee face to face. Let us do Thy will, O God, and 
honor Thee, and hold ourselves for Thee under all cir- 
cumstances. 



Chapter 20. 



Responsive reading second Psalm. 
That Psalm is a summing up of the Bible story. 
The nations may rage and the people may imagine vain 
things, but whatever they imagine, whatever is not in 
accordance with God is a vain imagination. The Lord 
shall laugh at them. That is a strange saying, is it not ? 
He shall vex them in his sore displeasure. Notwith- 
standing all their opposition. He will set His king on 
His holy hill of Zion. The Lord Jesus Christ shall yet 
be King in Jerusalem. It does not matter whether you 
believe it or not, it will not alter the fact. It is a Scrip- 
tural assurance and will be a reality. You had better 
believe it and be in sympathy with God. *'Thou art 
my Son, this day have I begotten thee,'' as you read in 
Acts 13:33, refers to the resurrection of Christ, not 
His birth in Bethlehem. God will give Him the na- 
tions for His inheritance, and He shall break them with 
a rod of iron. He shall reign as king and all His ene- 
mies shall be overcome. 

Our study this afternoon is on that line. Rev. 20. I 
will read the first section. 

''And I saw an angel come down from heaven, hav- 
ing the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in 
his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old 
serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him 
a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, 
and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he 
should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand 
years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be 

286 



BOOK OF REVELATION 287 



loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they that 
sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: 
and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the 
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which 
had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither 
had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their 
hands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thou- 
sand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again 
until the thousand years were finished. This is the 
first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath 
part in the first resurrection : on such the second death 
hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of 
Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." 

This is the introduction to what is known as the 
Millennium. The next paragraph takes us to the end 
of the thousand years. In taking up this chapter, we 
will take it just a verse at a time, trusting the Holy 
Spirit to give you something to enable you to read it 
with more interest than ever. But let us keep this in 
mind always that whatever we may gather from these 
studies is but the faintest shadowing forth of the great 
realities which are there. If any attempt to think they 
know all about a portion of Scripture, it would be a 
good time to pray for them. For now we know only 
in part. Then we shall know even as w^e are known. 
I feel perfectly safe in saying that in holding fast to 
the very words of God and getting all the light we can 
upon them, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, 
and texts with texts, earnestly desiring to know His 
will, the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. We 
have this assurance from our Lord. 

Let me give you one or two facts concerning the 
Millennium. We have passed through about six mil- 
lenniums. The seventh, which is known as the Mil- 



288 



STUDIES IN THE 



lennium is at hand. Just as there are six days in the 
week, and the seventh is the day of rest, so probably, 
having passed through six thousand years since Adam 
sinned, the seventh thousand will be the Sabbath of the 
earth's history. That is a very old belief. I think it 
is a very Scriptural one. I simply pass it on to you as 
worth considering. We know that "one day with the 
Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
one day." But there is a great probability that the 
seventh thousand years of this earth's history will be 
the earth's Sabbath, the earth's rest, the devil in the 
pit, and the Lord Jesus Christ superintending affairs 
personally, His church with Him, one righteous nation 
on the earth, and all other nations blessed through 
them, with no war any mor-, a time of unprecedented 
prosperity. 

There are various names given to this period in 
Scripture,— two names. One— Restoration. Acts 3: 
21, "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of 
restitution (or restoration) of all things, which God 
hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since 
the world began." "Whom the heavens must receive." 
The heavens will receive the Lord, Jesus Christ, they 
have received Him, and He will tarry in heaven "until 
the times of restoration or restitution of all things, 
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy 
prophets since the world began." In reading that pas- 
sage, unless you notice the phrase "of which the proph- 
ets have spoken" you may possibly get more restitution 
than God has given you. There are those who believe 
in what is called the restoration of all things (not that 
of which the prophets have spoken) but a restoration 
which extends even to the ungodly dead, that God will 
raise them up and give them another chance. That is 



BOOK OF REVELATION 289 



not Scriptural, and therefore we have put you on your 
guard against a certain book that is pubHshed. Scrip- 
ture is very plain that if a person is taken away in sin 
there is no redemption. There is a great gulf fixed be- 
tween the lost and the saved, and our Lord said they 
cannot pass from one to the other. If you keep close 
to the Book you will see that it means the restoration 
of all things that the prophets have spoken. 

There is another name. We find it in the nineteenth 
chapter of Matthew. Simon Peter said, 'Xord, we 
have forsaken all and followed thee, what will we have 
therefore?" Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "Ye who 
have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of 
man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye shall sit 
upon twelve thrones, judging the tv/elve tribes of Is- 
rael." Now our Lord Jesus Christ will return to bring 
about this restoration or regeneration. You see no one 
can say that the preaching of the Gospel all these nine- 
teen centuries has yet accomplished the complete re- 
generation of a single city or village on the earth. 
There is no company to-day called a church that is a 
perfect set of people. Shall we go out and leave our 
church, and shall we form a little company ourselves, 
a pure people? It has been tried and it doesn't work. 
Let me give you an illustration. Two years ago I had 
the privilege of conducting a service in the South of 
Ireland, and I enjoyed the service very much. And 
there it was under circumstances where it pays to come 
out, as the church is what you might call a state church, 
and there is a necessity to come out, and so they have 
a church of their own ; But mark to what extent that 
thing may be carried ! In one home there was one son 
who would not meet with his father and mother and 
the rest of the family. He thought he had gotten holier 
19 



290 



STUDIES IN THE 



than they, and he had gone out from them and assem- 
bled himself together for the worship of God. It is a 
difficult thing to know what to do ; but until you get 
clear light, it is better to abide where you are, even in 
Sardis. ''I have not found thy works perfect before 
God/' ''Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which 
have not defiled their garments ; and they shall walk 
with me in white : for they are worthy/' Abide where 
you are as long as it is possible so to abide, keeping 
our eyes unto Him, that He through us may accomplish 
His pleasure unto His return, witnessing for Him even 
in darkness, faithful unto Him even unto death. That 
is the commission given us. This is not the time of the 
kingdom, and these phrases which have grown up with 
us from childhood are ofttimes unscriptural. And so 
you hear of extending the kingdom. You cannot ex- 
tend what is not here. You can hasten it, but not ex- 
tend it. We can live to complete the church and hasten 
the kingdom. In our Sunday school lesson for to-day, 
Luke 19: II to 27, you find these words of our Lord. 
They will surely give you light upon this matter of the 
kingdom. Because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and be- 
cause they thought the kingdom of God should imme- 
diately appear, He told them a parable, that He would 
go away to receive the kingdom and He would return. 
The kingdom was at hand, but because of their unbe- 
lief it was postponed. The kingdom of God will come 
when Jesus comes back again. After the resurrection 
His disciples asked Him, "Lord, wilt thou at this time 
restore again the kingdom to Israel? And He said 
unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the 
seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." 
It certainly had not come up to the time of the resur- 
rection and it has not come yet, and will not come until 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



the seventh trumpet sounds, Rev. ii. And what do 
you read of after the seventh trumpet sounds, '*The 
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our 
Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever 
and ever." So we go on preaching the gospel, sowing 
the seed incorruptible, trusting the Lord to accomplish 
His pleasure and complete His church, and then when 
the church is completed, we meet Him in the air. I 
hope that step in the march of God's events is clear in 
our minds, — that the next great event that will startle 
the earth will be the disappearance of the church, — not 
the professing church, but the real church. Then w411 
come the time of the great tribulation, which is so great 
that compared with it all other tribulations are as noth- 
ing. At the end of it the Lord's return as He said in 
Luke 19, and as we read last week, heaven opened, and 
our Lord is seen coming upon a white horse, with all 
the armies of heaven on white horses, that He may 
overturn iniquity, punish the nations and bring in the 
kingdom of the thousand years. 

This millennial period will not be a perfect state, as 
we shall see when we come to the next chapter, but 
much above the present, as day is ahead of night. We 
read last week of His coming in power and casting the 
beast and the false prophet, the two greatest men on 
earth at that time, alive into the lake of fire ; and our 
lesson to-day opens with the binding of the devil. 
There is a wicked one called the dragon, that old ser- 
pent, which is the devil and Satan, each of which 
phrases has its own significance. Dragon, power and 
authority; serpent, great deceit; devil, the accuser; 
and Satan, the adversary. This noted criminal w^ith all 
his aliases, will be shut up in prison for a thousand 



292 



STUDIES IN THE 



years. I do not know how to take that except as it 
reads. 

"An angel shall come down from heaven" — heaven is 
the home of the angels. When we read of angels, we 
read of creatures whom God created holy, and they are 
holy still. They are not our departed friends. This 
angel comes from heaven, "having the key of the bot- 
tomless pit and a great chain in his hand.'' There is a 
place called the bottomless pit. Where it is, God 
knows, and God has control of it. This angel is given 
the key of the pit and he comes with a chain in his 
hand. Do you ask, "Is it a real chain?" I know noth- 
ing about it. I do not know why it might not be a real 
chain. "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old ser- 
pent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a 
thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, 
and shut him up and set a seal upon him, that he should 
deceivQ the nations no more, till the thousand years 
should be fulfilled : and after that he must be loosed a 
little season." I am glad of this, there is comfort in it, 
that one angel has more power than the devil. Just 
look at this. It does not say this was a strong angel. 
In the fifth chapter of this book we read of "a strong 
angel proclaiming with a loud voice. Who is worthy to 
open the book and to loose the seals thereof ?" And 
this angel has power to lay hold of the devil, a real per- 
son, and put him into the pit, a real place, and shut him 
up, a real shutting up, and seal it for a thousand years. 
There was a time when the devil got the body of our 
Lord Jesus Christ into a tomb, and made it sure, sealed 
with all the power of Rome. But when the time came, 
the Lord laughed at them and broke the seal and came 
out of the tomb. They could not hold Him one mo- 
ment more than He wished to be held. The devil can- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 293 



not break that seal, nor can all the power of hell break 
that seal. It will stay there for a thousand years. That 
will surely be a good time for the earth. But there will 
be a good many who will follow him when he comes 
out. 

Man was tried in the Garden of Eden in innocence, 
and man failed; he was tried with conscience in the 
antediluvian period, without law, and man failed, and 
the deluge had to come ; he was tried under law, and 
man failed, Israel went away into captivity ; man was 
tried when the Lord Jesus Christ was here, God mani- 
fest in the flesh, here in person, and man failed — they 
killed Him. Man is now tried under the administra- 
tion of the Holy Spirit, and man again under the best 
possible conditions of these times is wandering off in 
rebellion against God and against God's word, and he 
is a failure as in the days of Noah. He will be tried 
again in the days of the millennial age, and then man 
will prove a failure, for this millennium will end in an 
awful apostasy. It will be a time when Satan will be 
shut up in the pit that he may deceive the nations no 
more. We do not want to be deceived, and yet, unless 
we keep as close as possible to the words of this Book, 
we are apt to be deceived. This word is truth. I think 
you will see that I can say that with my whole heart. 
I believe God — ^no thanks to me, but by the grace of 
God, I do believe this Book from beginning to end. 
And it tells us of all things that are yet to come as well 
as things that are past. Our difificulty has been that we 
have not read it. We have been almost afraid to read 
it, because we could not understand it, and we have got 
things terribly mixed up. I do not read that the Church 
is called the kingdom, or Israel the Church, or the 
Church Israel. We have gotten things terribly mixed 



294 



STUDIES IN THE 



up, and until we learn to keep things separate, our 
Bible will still be very mixed up. The marriage cere- 
mony says, "What God hath put together, let no man 
put asunder." It is just as true in reference to the 
Bible. And the opposite is true also, what God hath 
put asunder let not man put together. If we insist on 
joining together what God has put asunder, we will 
make our Bible a very tangled up book. What kind 
of a business man is he who puts all kinds of papers in 
every pigeon hole of his desk ? What kind of a bureau 
drawer would that be in which a lady put everything 
all mixed up together? She must have a nice time 
looking for things sometimes. Let us, as Dr. Gordon 
used to say, 'Tut the right truth in the right pigeon 
hole." Never confound these things, they are separate. 
There are people everywhere, who, because they do 
not distinguish between salvation and service, are oft- 
times saying, *'Am I saved?" '1 really felt like a 
Christian this morning in church, but when I got home 
and found the dinner spoiled or something else all 
wrong, I did not feel a bit like a Christian. I wonder 
whether I am a Christian?" If we have received 
Christ, our relation is that of children of God, and as 
a child of God, our relationship is as Christ's. If our 
daily life is not what it should be, it is not our safety 
which is affected, but our service. Each one is given 
a pound, each believer is given the Holy Spirit in a 
measure, but there is a reckoning coming, and we will 
have to give in our account, and if we have served the 
Lord, our work will stand and be rewarded : whereas 
if we have not served our Lord, our works may be 
burned up, and yet we saved so as by fire, (i Cor. 3 : 
11-15.) 

Now can we possibly imagine what these thousand 



BOOW OF REVELATION 295 



years will be like ? It might help some one if I touch 
upon the two judgments which precede the thousand 
years. Every believer in Christ has passed from death 
unto life, has been judged for his sins on Calvary. 
There is no judgment for sin for the believer. The 
word of God proves that. The sins of the believer in 
Christ are so effectually blotted out that there shall be 
no remembramce of them. But there is a judgment 
ahead of every believer — the judgment seat of Christ, 
to be judged for our works and receive our rewards 
and positions in the kingdom. Romans 14: 10, "But 
why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set 
at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before 
the judgment seat of Christ." 2 Cor. 5 : 10, *'For we 
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; 
that every one may receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad." The judgment seat of Christ — where there will 
be only saved people, believers, where they will be 
judged for their works, and if our works stand and are 
approved of God, we shall be so happy as to hear Him 
say, ''Good servant," and we shall receive our reward 
and be appointed our places in the kingdom. Then 
after that judgment, which comes in somewhere be- 
tween our meeting Him in the air and our coming back 
with Him, after that, the judgment of the nations, 
when He comes on the white horse, we are all to come 
with Him, coming to judge the living nations. That is 
the story of Matthew 25 : 31. 

When the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of 
His glory, the nations shall be gathered before Him. 
There are no dead people there; they are the living 
nations. And when the Lord Jesus Christ shall judge 
these living nations, and separate the sheep and the 



296 STUDIES IN THE 



goats, you and I will be with Christ on His throne. As 
it is written, "When Christ, who is our life, shall ap- 
pear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." 
(Col. 3:4.) ''To him that overcometh will I grant to 
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and 
am set down with my Father in his throne." (Rev. 
3:21.) The judgment of the nations is a very clear 
Old Testament story, as you will find in such passages 
as Joel 3, Zeph. 3 and elsewhere, and more fully de- 
scribed in Matt. 25 and referred to in Rev. 19. These 
are the next two judgments ahead of us : the judgment 
seat of Christ for His people, where they shall get 
their rewards and be appointed their places in His 
kingdom, and following that, the judgment of nations, 
living nations, when you and I shall be associate judges 
with Christ. We will be neither sheep nor goats. We 
are now Christ's sheep, but in that judgment we do 
not figure as sheep. Who will be ? Can't you wait and 
see, so long as you know where you will be, on the 
throne with Him? You will have some light upon it, 
if you read carefully the thirty-fourth of Ezekiel. 
Note carefully your marginal readings. And these na- 
tions will be judged largely on accoimt of their treat- 
ment of the Jews, His brethren. But keep in mind this 
always,— there are principles in that judgment that will 
apply to us in the judgment seat of Christ, principles 
which should govern us in our daily lives. Some of 
these principles in Matthew 25 will be applied to you, 
"Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren," "Inasmuch as ye did it not," and so on. 
For God is unchangeable and goes on the same princi- 
ple all the way through. Now then we have got clearly 
to these thousand years. Vv^e have been married to the 
Lamb. We have been previously judged for our 



BOOK OF REVELATION 297 



works. We have come back to judge the nations, the 
beast and the false prophet have gone to their place for 
the time being, and the devil is in the pit. The Lord 
Jesus Christ is Kmg in Jerusalem; for surely Gabriel 
knew what he was talking about, and meant what he 
said, when he said to Mary concerning her child, "He 
shall be called the Son of the Highest and shall reign 
over the house of Jacob.'' Luke i : 32, 33 ; Jer. 3 : 17. 

But mark you, it will not be a time of perfect bHss. 
There will be disobedient people during those thousand 
years, for sin will still be in man during that period. 
We read in Zech. 14: 16 and 17, ''It shall come to pass, 
t;hat every one that is left of all the nations which came 
against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year 
to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep 
the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso 
will not come up of all the families of the earth unto 
Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, 
even upon them shall be no rain." We see that at the 
time of the judgment of the nations, some will be left, 
some will escape. Those that are left of the nations 
will go up from year to year to Jerusalem to worship 
the Lord. You can imagine them saying in some of 
those countries in those days, "It is very strange. We 
have had no rain for three months, not a drop "Why 
don't you remember you sent no delegates up to Jeru- 
salem this year. The Bible says, if you send no dele- 
gates, you get no rain." You can imagine this as one 
of the newspaper items in the Millennium. 

Notice another thing concerning these days. Turn 
to Zeph. 3 : 19. If I should attempt to read to you all 
the passages bearing upon the Millennium, it would 
take me hours to do it. Therefore I had better not 
make a beginning. Read the Prophets. There are six- 



298 STUDIES IN THE 



teen of them. Read them all. "I do not like proph- 
ecy." Then you cannot be in fellowship with the Lord 
very much, if you don't like prophecy, for He is com- 
ing back to restore all things of which the prophets 
have spoken. Let me give you some chapters to attract 
you. These chapters tell very plainly some of the mere 
facts of the Millennium that will be on this earth with 
Christ reigning at Jerusalem: Isaiah ii, that is a good 
one, Isaiah 35 and 60, 65, 66 and the second chapter. 
I once heard a Thanksgiving sermon in which the min- 
ister said we are the nation spoken of in Isaiah 66. If 
that was not blasphemy, it was next door to it. Israel 
is the nation referred to. If you read these six chap- 
ters and believe them, you will have a good idea of the 
condition of things in the days of the thousand years 
we are studying about. How will it end? 

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan 
shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to de- 
ceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the 
earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to bat- 
tle : the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and 
compassed the camp of the saints about, and the be- 
loved city: and fire came down from God out of 
heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that de- 
ceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brim- 
stone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and 
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." 

''The devil will be loosed out of his prison." That 
seems a pity, doesn't it? When they get the devil in 
prison, why not keep him there? Ah, God has a pur- 
pose in it. This is the next section of this chapter. At 
the end of the thousand years, the devil is loosed. His 
thousand years in prison have not reformed him a bit. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



He comes out the same devil as he went in ; but this is 
a strange thing, that after the reign of Christ for a 
thousand years, he can get any people to follow him. 
But he will get multitudes of people to follow him, be- 
cause there have been people who submitted to Christ 
because they were afraid to do otherwise. As in the 
case of Ananias and Sapphira, and Korah, Dathan and 
Abiram, swift judgment overtook their sin, so shall it 
be in the Millennium. ''He shall rule them with a rod 
of iron." The people that have iniquity in their hearts 
and would fain do iniquity, will be afraid to do it in 
that reign of Christ. It will be a reign of love, glorious 
love, but it will not put up with nonsense ; it will be a 
reign of justice for the poor and oppressed, it w^ill be a 
righteous rule, but it will be a rule of power, the power 
of God. Psalm i8: 44, ''As soon as they hear of me, 
they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit them- 
selves unto me." Psalm 66: 3, "Say unto God, How 
terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness 
of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves 

I unto thee." Look in the margin of these two verses. 
A great many people in those thousand years will yield 
a feigned obedience, a lying obedience, pretending to 
be Christ's friends, but in their hearts His enemies, and 
afraid to show it. So the devil will have a following 
of these multitudes who live on the earth at that time, 
who have no heart for God, only a heart for the devil. 

I We are not told how long this period will last. But 
they will go up to make war against the Holy City and 
against God and His Christ, and they will be consumed 
by fire from heaven, and the devil sent to his last home, 
— ^the lake of fire. We do not know where he came 
from, but we know where he is going to. Let us take 

^ care none of us are going there with him. Those who 

(■ 



ill 



300 STUDIES IN THE 

choose the devil's ways will have to put up with his 
punishment. 

How does the chapter close? "And I saw a great 
white throne." Are we going to stand before the great 
white throne? It doesn't frighten me a bit, because we 
are not going to be there. If you are a Christian now, 
you will not be there before the great white throne. 
This judgment of the great white throne is the judg- 
ment at the end of the thousand years, the judgment 
for the rest of the dead. In verses 5 and 6 of this 
chapter you read, "But the rest of the dead lived not 
again until the thousand years were finished. This is 
the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath 
part in the first resurrection : on such the second death 
hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of 
Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." 
The first resurrection takes place probably in several 
stages, as at the coming of Christ. One stage is in 
heaven, one company of those who took part in the first 
resurrection is in heaven,— they came out of their 
graves when Christ rose from the dead. Another stage 
will be when we are caught up with Christ in the air, 
and immediately preceding that, the dead in Christ shall 
be raised, and then those out of the great tribulation, 
—all included in the first resurrection. The first resur- 
rection being over, the ungodly dead shall remain in 
their graves until the end of the thousand years. And 
if there shall be any among all that host, whose names 
are in the Book of Life, they will be saved ; but all 
whose names are not in the Book of Life, will be cast 
into the lake of fire. 

Now friends, try and hold this order. If you are a 
Christian, your sins are put away and entirely for- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



given; you will meet the Lord at His judgment seat; 
you will come back with Him to judge the living na- 
tions, and are with Him all these thousand years, prob- 
ably in the New Jerusalem, coming and going at pleas- 
ure, administering affairs on earth, rulers over five or 
ten cities, reigning with Christ. We will know what it 
means when we get to it. Heat or cold will not light 
upon us. We will never grow old, never worry, but be 
just like Christ. Then at the end of the thousand years, 
when He judges the rest of the dead, you will be w^ith 
Him still ; but you have no part, so far as I can find, 
I hope you have not, in the judgment of the great w^hite 
throne. If you die in your sins, an unsaved man or 
woman, you will have no part in the Millennium. If 
you are a child of God, one with Christ, you will reign 
with Him, not only for a thousand years, but be with 
Him for ever and ever. There is no truth more grand 
than the truth of the oneness with Christ. If you look 
into these things, and read carefully some of the chap- 
ters, God will give you light and you will rejoice as you 
have never rejoiced before in Him, who is at God's 
right hand, representing us in heaven, whom we repre- 
sent down here on earth. Have nothing to do with the 
things of this world, but be wholly for Him all our so- 
journ here. If we are spared till next week and the 
week following, we will consider the New Jerusalem 
and the new heavens and the new earth. 

Our Father and our God, we thank Thee for this 
story of the thousand years, when Satan shall be bound 
in the pit, when there shall be prosperity and peace and 
righteousness on the earth, when Jesus Christ shall be 
honored as King of kings and Lord of lords by all na- 
tions on the earth. It seems sad to think of the devil 



302 



STUDIES IN THE 



being loosed at the end of those thousand years. But 
just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of kings. We 
thank Thee the time is coming when there will be a 
new heaven and a new earth, where through all the 
long eternity we shall be, if only we are one with 
Christ, like Him, with Him forever. May these things 
inspire us to have done with the world and its follies. 
May we throughout this week, keep ourselves wholly 
from it, and every moment be set apart for Him, who 
hath redeemed us by His blood. 



Chapter 21. 



Responsive reading, sixty-fifth of Isaiah from the 
sixteenth verse. These verses have very evident refer- 
ence to the Jerusalem that will be on the earth, — ^the 
earthly Jerusalem : the throne of the Lord : the earthly 
centre of the kingdom. In our study in Revelation we 
shall have something concerning the heavenly Jeru- 
salem. 

Our meditation is upon the twenty-first chapter of 
the Book of Revelation. I will read the first five 
verses: ''And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: 
for the first heaven and the first earth w^ere passed 
away ; and there was no more sea. And I John saw 
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God 
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven say- 
ing. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he 
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and 
God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; 
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the 
former things are passed away. And he that sat upon 
the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And 
he said unto me. Write : for these words are true and 
faithful." 

Here is the opening section of the last two chapters 
of the Bible. It tells us of the completed circle. The 
whole Bible story is a circle, and every part is in the 

303 



304 STUDIES IN THE 

right place. The first two chapters tell us of an earth 
and a heaven— the earth and its atmosphere, all per- 
fect, just as God completed it ready for the occupation 
of Adam and Eve and their posterity, There may have 
been (I think there was) a heaven and earth before 
that. The first verse in the Bible tells us that in the 
beginning God created heaven and earth. We have 
had some talk upon that— but perhaps it is so many 
months ago you have forgotten about it. The next 
statement is "the earth was without form, and void ; 
and darkness was upon the face of the deep." And 
anyone reading carelessly might think that was the way 
God made the earth— without form and void and dark- 
ness covering it. We read in the Prophecy of Isaiah 
that God did not make the earth in that way. He made 
it not in vain ; He made it not a waste. Isaiah 45 : 18. 
If you compare Genesis i : i and 2 with that, you will 
conclude, without any difficulty, that the earth was 
never made without form and void, and the earth, as 
we read in Gen. i : i must have been made perfect by 
God, as He always does make things perfect. 

When that was, we are not told. We have no way 
of finding out. It may have been millions of years ago. 
When we speak of six thousand years ago, we mean 
the time which is described in the rest of the first chap- 
ter of Genesis. There may have been an age or ages, 
when God dealt with the earth, of which we know 
nothing. Beyond what is written in the first verse, it 
looks as if the earth was in past ages under the control 
of him whom we call the devil, the adversary, and 
through some maladministration on his part, the whole 
thing had to be overthrown. Beyond the second verse, 
we have a story of restoration or renovation. So it is 
quite possible (I do not insist upon it) but it looks as it 



BOOK OF REVELATION 305 



away back in ages past there was a heaven and earth 
as it came from the hand of God perfect; and then 
Genesis i tells of what you might call a new heaven 
and a new earth. 

That earth was also destroyed by the deluge. Let us 
read about that. In 2 Peter 3 : 6 we read, "The world 
that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." 
Here you see there's a heaven and earth upon which 
people had been living since the deluge ; and yet they 
are not the same heaven and earth ; they are not and 
yet they are ; a change had been made by the deluge. 
Peter goes on to speak of this, and he speaks of the 
day of the Lord coming as a thief in the night, and of 
the elements being dissolved. Then he adds in verse 
13, ''Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look 
for new^ heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
righteousness." Now as we have had at least two 
heavens and earths — I think three — ^there are others 
yet to come; but all the way through, it is the same 
earth and heaven, the same earth on which Satan ad- 
ministered before that catastrophe coming in between 
Gen. I : i and 1:2; and that same earth was made over 
new for Adam and Eve and their posterity, and that 
same earth being overflowed with water in the time of 
Noah, perished, and ever since to this time, it is the 
same earth. 

But we are drawing near to another overthrowing, 
which will take place at the end of this age. And then 
will come the thousand years, the best time the earth 
has ever seen. But beyond the thousand years you will 
have another new heaven and earth, which seems to be 
the last, and which will be perfect. So that these ages 
are spoken of as a new heaven and new earth, new 
earth and atmosphere. The story of this planet as we 
20 



3o6 STUDIES IN THE 



have it in the Bible, with its change after change, so it 
will be until we come to the times we are now reading 
of, when in the new heaven and new earth, there will 
be no more death, no more sorrow, nor crying, nor 
pain, but all things shall be made new. The eartli 
from that time onward will be an earth filled with 
righteousness. For this we are waiting and journeying 
on. We will all see it, because we are going on forever 
in our immortal bodies. There is a sentence in He- 
brews which reads thus: "the power of an endless 
life.'' Heb. 7: 16. You will think much less of the 
cares and sorrows of this life, if that takes hold of you 
— ''the power of an endless life." 

We have not looked recently at the story of the be- 
liever. I hope I do not mix you up, friends. I heard 
of some one, who was saying last Lord's day, he was 
all mixed up. I am sorry. I try to make it as plain as 
I can. Lest we confound you and confuse you and 
mix you all up, let us take a moment to go over the be- 
liever's story— the individual believer. Take my own 
story as a believer, and surely many of you can go 
along with me. The individual story is this : We are 
sinners. I am by nature a sinner, a child of the devil, 
deserving the wrath of God. I cannot stop to give you 
the passages, but these statements are all supported by 
Scriptural statements. We are born in sin. Sin passed 
upon all men. I, by birth, was a child of the wicked 
one, child of earth, but God told me through His word 
and the preaching of His word, of His Son, who loved 
me and gave Himself for me; and for many years, 
while I went to church and Sabbath school and read 
the Bible, I did not accept this Lord Jesus Christ. I 
was many a time afraid to die, afraid to be sick lest 
I might die, afraid almost to lie down at night lest I 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



307 



might awake in hell, for I knew I was not saved. But 
the time came when I was led to receive the Lord Jesus 
Christ as my Saviour; and even then 1 did not have 
the peace I might have had. For even after I received 
Christ as my Saviour, I did not rest in His word, think- 
ing if I did not do my part I would not be saved : but 
after some years of that kind of life, trusting in Christ, 
but trying hard to do my part, my eyes were opened to 
see that He did it all. Oh what a rest that was ! And 
then I found out, for Christ's sake God had forgiven 
my sins. I actually found out I was a saved soul ; and 
since that time have had no question concerning my 
soul's welfare. It has been twenty-three years now, 
this summer, since there was any thought of danger, — 
twenty-three years of peace and rest ; for I know that 
any moment that death might come, it would be glory 
for me. If any of you have not that restful Hfe in 
Christ, you may obtain it at once, by simply receiving 
Him, and taking Him at His word. You cannot add to 
His finished work. Eternal salvation and glory are 
awaiting you. Then what is there to do here? Just do 
day by day as occasion serve thee, for God is with thee. 
Let God manage your life, walk humbly with Him, and 
be perfectly sure that you being willing to be guided. 
He will guide you. Serve Him with a glad heart with- 
out any bondage, faithfully, because He has saved you, 
ready to meet Him any day, absent from the body, or 
caught up in the body, doing what He wants you to do 
to help bring the time of the kingdom, and all the credit 
is due to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are here on the 
earth to make Him known, to so live in Him, to have 
Him so live in us, that through us souls may be saved. 

Well, what has that to do with the plan of the Bible ? 
That is another story. Some people think the Bible is 



STUDIES IN THE 



given to us just to tell us how to get saved, and so some 
people need only a very small Bible. The third chapter 
of John is enough for them, or just the four Gospels, 
or the New Testament, because they think salvation is 
not mentioned anywhere else. But you can find that 
in the third chapter of Genesis, where the Lord God 
made coats of skins and clothed Adam and Eve ; and 
then in the next chapter, in the offering of Abel, you 
have the way of salvation. This is a wonderful state- 
ment in Isaiah i : i8 : "Come now, and let us reason 
together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scar- 
let, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red 
like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 45 : 22, 
"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth : for I am God, and there is none else." You 
can find salvation in almost every verse in the Bible. 
What is the use, then, of this big Bible? It makes us 
tired to read it. It tells you God's plan. But you say, 
"What do I want with God's plan? I want to get 
saved, and be sure to go to heaven when I die." That 
is not much of an ambition. Ask the laborer employed 
on a building when it is expected the building will be 
completed, and if he should reply, "I don't know, if I 
get wages, that is all I care about it," you would think 
him a poor specimen. God has a plan concerning the 
earth, the whole earth, and He allows us to come into 
partnership with Him in His plan to make the earth 
all over new, to bring the age we read of in this verse, 
a new heaven and new earth. What is my part in this 
plan? Our part in the plan is to yield ourselves fully 
unto God's Holy Spirit, that He may have control of 
us, and send us to China or South America, if He 
wants to, or keep us here if He wants to,— to do what 
He wants to through us to make Jesus Christ known. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



so that the Church may be completed. That is the part 
of the plan we are in just now. How far are we on 
in the plan ? We are at the building of the Church, and 
when the building of the Church is completed, when the 
literal members of Christ's body are called out, when 
the Church (it matters little what denomination you 
belong to) shall have been completed we shall be for- 
ever with the Lord. I cannot but believe that all this 
zeal about denominationalism is of the devil. God is 
the God of peace, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince 
of Peace, and if you are controlled by the Lord Jesus 
Christ, you will be peaceful. If you are not peaceful, 
it is the work of the devil, provided your aim is to 
glorify God. If not, you have no right to be peaceful. 
If your aim is to glorify God, let us be peaceful and 
peaceable. He can work in spite of a good many 
things, and He shall see of the travail of His soul and 
be satisfied. When He has completed His Church, we 
will be gone to meet Him in the air, and then will come 
the awful tribulation, which will end in Israel's conver- 
sion and restoration, and beyond that, the new heavens 
and new earth of which we are now^ reading. 

I expect confidently to see that new heaven and 
earth. I expect confidently to have a home in that new 
Jerusalem. Because you are good? No, God forbid. 
Because I have as a sinner received Christ. Because 
I am simple enough to believe that all weak and un- 
worthy though I am, having received the Lord Jesus 
Christ I am a part of Him. You are a part of Him, 
just the same. Why not believe this, and go about your 
work day by day a part of Christ. The mother says, 
"My little babe is a part of me, he belongs to me.'^ 
And if that mother has the honor of having a child in 
heaven, it makes heaven more real to that father and 



STUDIES IN THE 



mother. Up to that time heaven was not so real ; but 
when their own Httle child is there, surely heaven is 
more real. They have a representative of their own 
home in glory. They think more about heaven than 
ever before. When we have grasped the fact that we 
are a part of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are contented 
to let earthly things go by, and we are taken up with 
things eternal. 

''And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the 
first heaven and the first earth were passed away ; and 
there was no more sea." That bothers some people 
''for the first heaven and the first earth zvere passed 
away/' If this heaven and earth pass away, how^ can 
it be the same heaven and earth? I am looking upon 
the faces of several hundred people passed away, and 
yet here you are. ''If any man be in Christ, he is a 
new creature : old things are passed away ; behold, all 
things are become new." If you are a Christian, there 
is a sense in which you passed away. The old things 
have passed away, and you have become a new man or 
woman in Christ. You have the same form and fea- 
tures, but a change has come over you. A great change 
comes over you from day to day. 

One of the hardest men I ever came across was a 
stevedore in the North end of Boston. He attended 
some of the meetings, and he actually received Christ ; 
and many a time I had to just look at his face in prayer 
meeting, and say to myself, "Are you the same Bob I 
knew down at the wharves?" You would not know 
him for the change that had come over him,— he looked 
even like a gentleman in appearance. If people, who 
give much attention to getting the outward appearance 
beautified, would give attention to the heart, the face 
would be all right. It is not powder you want on the 



BOOK OF REVELATION 311 

face, but the grace of God in the heart. The most 
homely face becomes good-looking when the Spirit of 
God shines through. 

There is another expression that troubles people 
about this new heaven and earth. In 2 Peter 3, we read 
of the elements — that the elements will be dissolved. 
If the elements will be dissolved, how can it be the 
same heaven and earth ? The meanings of words are 
very helpful. The word "dissolved" in 2 Peter 3, is 
the very same word that is used of the ass's colt. The 
disciples were told to go and loose him. They did not 
dissolve him. Lazarus stood at the grave's mouth a 
live man, but he was bound hand and foot with grave 
clothes. How did he get out of the grave w^ith the 
grave clothes wound around him ? That was part of 
the miracle. The same Power that brought him to life 
brought him to the grave's mouth ; and the Lord said, 
"Loose him and let him go." Dissolve him, — ^the same 
word. Take the word and translate it "loosed" in re- 
gard to the elements. So the earth upon which we live 
shall be loosed from its bondage and set free. It is 
just the fulfillment of the eighth of Romans: "The 
whole creation groaneth," but the whole creation "shall 
be delivered from the bondage of corruption." 

"And there was no more sea." That is a strange 
statement, isn't it? What will we do without the At- 
lantic and Pacific Oceans? Go to Europe by rail, no 
seasickness ? There is no sin about the sea. Do you 
think the Lord will dry it up ? We will wait to see. 
"There shall be no more sea." The sea is significant of 
the restless sinner. The wicked are like the troubled 
sea which cannot rest. There will be perfect rest in 
that time. But that does not satisfy me. That is the 
spiritual application of it. The Mediterranean Sea is 



312 



STUDIES IN THE 



the sea of the Bible. I do not know that the Bible ever 
refers to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, for the Bible 
lands lie around the Mediterranean Sea. It is possible 
the Mediterranean Sea shall be no more. Great 
changes will come at the time of the earthquake when 
Christ comes, in the configuration of the world's sur- 
face. The time may come when the Lord will blot out 
the whole sea. I am willing to wait and hold that state- 
ment. 

"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, com- 
ing down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband." Having touched upon the 
earth, we will spend the rest of the time on the New 
Jerusalem. There is just another glance at the earth 
in the next two verses. We are looking forward to the 
earth with no more death upon it, no more pain, no 
sickness, no sorrow. "Oh," you say, "that is heaven. 
I will be glad to be in heaven. No pain there, no 
crying there, no distress there." It is all true that 
there is no distress, sorrow, death or pain in heaven. 
But you are not reading about heaven here. You 
are reading about the earth. It says "There shall be 
no more death, etc." Now there is no sense in say- 
ing "no more" when there never was any. There never 
was any pain or sorrow in heaven. We are looking 
for a time when cemetery companies will be out of 
date. Lots of business will be ofiE the earth in the days 
that are coming. The undertaker's business will be 
gone. The sods of the earth shall never be cut for 
graves. Even the physicians will have a very poor 
show; perhaps, not needed at all, no more sickness. 
Some people will not want to live because their occu- 
pation will be gone. These statements are concerning 
the earth that is coming. How is it coming about ? 



BOOK OF REVELATION 313 



God says, ''Behold, I make all things new." There 
is a word of comfort in that verse. O God Thou canst 
make all things new, therefore, Thou art able to make 
a new creature out of me. O God make me a new man, 
a new woman. Let your heart cry out, ''Make me a 
new man, a new woman." It was last Sunday after- 
noon here a week ago, that one said to me, "It is all in 
letting." Sure enough, it is all in letting. Let God 
mould you and make you all new. 

Lest some one might say, "That is all nonsense. Do 
you think the time will ever come when the earth will 
be all new ?" Right there : God said to John, "Write : 
for these words are true and faithful." Why did the 
Holy Spirit put that right there in that place? Because 
He knew some would say, "That is all nonsense." 
That is what Peter said when the women told him 
Christ had risen from the dead. "Idle tales." Non- 
sense. 

"And he said unto me. It is done." Some day it will 
be done. Just as truly as this evening will come, so 
truly will this earth be new. 

Listen to these beautiful words. Are you thirsty? 
Have you an interest in these things ? "I will give unto 
him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life 
freely." Beautiful, isn't it! O what encouragement. 
Just come, accept Him, drink and eat abundantly. 

But, will all be there? No. Listen now, "The fear- 
ful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murder- 
ers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, 
and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which 
burneth with fire and brimstone : which is the second 
death." No, not all will go there. It is your own fault 
if you do not. If you are afraid to confess Christ, you 
are classed along with the fearful and unbelieving. 



314 



STUDIES IN THE 



Then you will go along with them to the lake of fire 
and the second death. That is an awful story, isn't it? 
This is the last time we read about it. Let us turn 
away and be citizens of the new Jerusalem, journeying 
on our way. 

Verse 9 : "And there came unto me one of the seven 
angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last 
plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I 
will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." Look at 
this city, read about it. Some of you have it in your 
hearts. We have been memorizing it, and we are look- 
ing at the city by faith. You see coming down out of 
heaven from God a great body, fifteen hundred miles 
long and wide and high. That is the measurement, — - 
verse 16, ''twelve thousand furlongs, and the length 
and the breadth and the height of it are equal." It is 
a perfect cube, foursquare. There are only three per- 
fect cubes in the Bible that I have found. The holy 
of holies in the Tabernacle, the holy of holies in the 
Temple, and this new Jerusalem. It is coming down 
from God out of heaven. How far is it coming? We 
are not told. It is coming down far enough for the 
nations to walk in the light of it, as you read near the 
close of the chapter. No doubt, some man of science 
would say, "He is talking nonsense. Think of a body 
1,500 miles long coming near the earth ! Why it would 
upset the equilibrium of the whole thing. You could 
not have a heavenly body coming near to the earth 
without upsetting everything." Who is doing this? 
Who made this earth ? Who started this earth rolling 
around the sun? Who formed the universe? Who is 
it who said, "I make all things new" ? It is He who 
formed the universe. Worms of the dust saying to 
God, "You cannot do it. You will upset everything." 



BOOK OF REVELATION 315 



Don't let us be foolish. Let us believe God. It is His 
affair, and He will do it somewhere near the earth 
without disturbing everything. You see people raise a 
big house, Hf t it up and put some other stories under it. 
If man can do these little things, cannot our God do 
anything at all ? 

Some think it may approach the earth like a double 
pyramid with the bases together. We do not know. 
But it is a great city fifteen hundred miles long and 
wide and high. It has foundations, and the founda- 
tions of the walls of the city are garnished with all 
manner of precious stones. The first foundation is 
jasper ; the second, sapphire ; the third, a chalcedony ; 
the fourth, an emerald ; the fifth, sardonyx ; the sixth, 
sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; 
the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus ; the 
eleventh, a jacinth ; the twelfth, an amethyst. You see 
these precious stones of the foundation of the city! 
See the walls of diamond! It looks like diamond — 
jasper. We talk about diamonds! What a precious 
stone a diamond is. We will forget about the dia- 
monds we have here, when we see walls of diamonds. 
Think of the ruby, that you can hold in the fingers, 
and paying thousands of dollars for it. We are like 
children playing with these things. If we had our eyes 
upon that city, we would not consider such trifles. I 
am going to live in a city where every gate is a pearl. 
What do you think of that? If you could possibly 
turn all your precious adornments, if you have any, 
into saved souls for Christ, that would be a very fine 
investment. You pay enough for them, but when you 
try to sell them, it is a different matter. Just try it. 
If our adornments could be turned into souls for 
Christ, O how glad we would be in that new^ Jerusalem, 



3i6 STUDIES IN THE 



that we have been of any use to the Lord to help people 
to that city. 

And the street of the city is to be of pure gold. You 
never saw gold of this kind, clear as glass. There 
seems to be one long street in it, and it has no light 
save the glory of God ; and there is no temple there, 
''fof the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the 
temple of it." We will see in next week's study a river 
in it and other precious things. Just imagine you see 
the city as it comes down from God, as long as from 
here to Chicago. And that will be our home, and there 
shall enter into it nothing that defileth. O what purity ! 
You cannot ride in the trolley car without meeting 
something defiling. How we sometimes long for a 
new clean home. In that city will be only those whose 
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. 

To what part of the earth will it come ? It will be 
located over the old Jerusalem. Jerusalem in Palestine 
will be rebuilt. There will be an earthquake that will 
change the whole face of the country, and somewhere 
over that city will be the new Jerusalem. Isaiah 4, last 
two verses: ''And the Lord will create upon every 
dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assem- 
blies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a 
flaming fire by night : for upon all the glory shall be a 
defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow 
in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, 
and for a covert from storm and from rain." That 
looks like the New Jerusalem. Isaiah 60 : 19, "The sun 
shall be no more thy light by day ; neither for bright- 
ness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the 
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy 
God thy glory." You see they will not need the light 
of the sun and the moon so much. They will go on 



BOOK OF REVELATION 317 

shining all the same, but this new Jerusalem will 
lighten up all that city. It will be the wonder of the 
age. And when in those days people will go up, as 
they will from all parts of the world to worship God 
in Jerusalem, the first thing they will see will be the 
light of the new Jerusalem over the old Jerusalem. It 
will be a wonderful combination, will it not : the Lamb 
and the bride in the new Jerusalem, and the people in 
the old Jerusalem. This will help us to understand a 
difficult passage in Zech. 14: 6, 'And it shall come to 
pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor 
dark : but it shall be one day which shall be known to 
the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to 
pass, that at evening time it shall be light." It will be 
all day. The light of the new Jerusalem will make it 
all day in that part of the world at least. Now we 
are supposing, just for a moment, that the new Jeru- 
salem is located over the old and revolves with it. 
Some think the new Jerusalem will be stationary. If 
it is the whole world shall enjoy its light; but it looks 
to me as if it will be a fixture over the old Jerusalem. 

What will our business be in those days ? Whatever 
the Lord shall say, coming and going at His pleasure 
from the new Jerusalem to the earth and back again, 
or to some other orb, if He sends us, at His pleasure 
all the long eternity. 

Shall we live on the earth? It doesn't look like it. 
Our home will be in the New Jerusalem, coming and 
going as His messengers. Will not Jacob's dream be 
fulfilled? We will be at home with the Lord in His 
presence forever. I am glad of this that some day I 
will see it, some day I will understand. 

Mr. Spurgeon says: "If a man have good matter, 



3i8 



STUDIES IN THE 



even if he doesn't speak up to the matter, it is good if 
he calls attention to it." 

Our Father and our God, we ask Thee to forgive us 
for our blunderings and stumblings. Forgive us, O 
Lord, that we are such wretched witnesses. It would 
take Gabriel to talk to us about these things. We can- 
not understand, but we can believe. O God, our Fa- 
ther, we ask this, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
that this story of the new Jerusalem, written in this 
Thy Book may become so interesting to those who have 
been gathering here, that they shall read, read and 
meditate upon this matter, and may we become so taken 
up with this city, that like Abraham, we v/ill be content 
to live looking for that city. May we be like him, 
heavenly people, walking the earth as strangers, con- 
tent to be anything or do anything, if so we can be of 
use to Thee to bring these glad days on the earth. The 
Lord hasten then the time when Israel shall be re- 
deemed. 



Chapter 22. 



We will read as a Praise Psalm the 103d Psalm. We 
ought to be saying that about all the time. "Bless the 
Lord, O my soul.'' ''I will bless the Lord at all times." 
I will be thankful as my days go by, counting God's 
mercies to me. It is helpful to count the mercies. 

I will answer a question : 'Tlease explain the word 
'Antichrist' as it appears in Scripture. Is it any one 
person in particular, or is it a body of men inimical to 
Jesus, or is it the devil ?" We have referred to this 
matter, and I think it may be summed up very briefly. 
The word 'Wichrist" is found only in the Epistles of 
John, but the same person (for I believe Antichrist 
will yet be a person) is spoken of in Second Thessa- 
lonians and in Daniel, as a man of sin, a wicked one. 
The spirit of Antichrist has been in the world ever 
since Cain killed Abel. That was the beginning of the 
Antichristian spirit. Antichrist includes all that is 
against Christ ; but there is a man coming who will be 
the devil in human form. He will not come in our day, 
perhaps, and yet he may be born even now, for all I 
know, to be manifest after the Church is caught away. 
He will be the greatest man on earth. The world will 
run after him. The newspapers will be full of him. 
He will be a philanthropist, apparently a good man, 
perhaps the finest man on earth outwardly. He will 
have large control in Europe, if not over the armies of 
the world, and he will gather them together against 
Christ and against Christ's Church in a great battle in 
Emmanuel's land ; and in the worst of the conflict, the 

319 



320 



STUDIES IN THE 



Lord shall come in His glory. Rev. 19. The spirit of 
Antichrist, from Cain on, is to end, to be consummated 
in a person to be destroyed by Christ when He comes 
in His glory. 

Concerning our future studies, we know nothing 
definite. A good many letters have come to hand, — 
letters of gratitude for benefit received. If you have 
received benefit, give God the glory, and if the Lord 
spare us to meet again in the Fall, possibly He will, 
and it will be communicated in the newspapers, we 
will continue our studies in Genesis, or perhaps in 
Daniel, unless I receive some very loud voice in an- 
other direction. The object of these classes, is simply 
to study the word of God, looking to missions. We 
have received $12,200 for missions this year, almost 
as much in these five months as the whole year of 1894. 
We received $13,000 in 1894. We received $19,000 last 
year, 1895. From these services there has been re- 
ceived in the boxes in the vestibule not quite $800. The 
total expense of the services has been $1,162. The dif- 
ference has been made up of one special gift of $50, 
and the committee enjoyed the privilege of paying 
$350, and they consider it a good investment. If any 
of you think it a good deal for them to bear, they are 
ready to welcome any contributions, and promise to 
give all surplus to missionary work. 

Our study is in Revelation, twenty-second chapter. 

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, 
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God 
and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and 
on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, 
which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her 
fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were 
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no 



BOOK OF REVELATION 321 



more curse : but the throne of God and of the Lamb 
shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and 
they shall see his face ; and his name shall be in their 
foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and 
they need no candle, neither light of the sun ; for the 
Lord God giveth them light : and they shall reign for 
ever and ever." 

It is not easy to distinguish always between the Jeru- 
salem that is to be on the earth in the old land of Pales- 
tine, and the Jerusalem that is to be over the earth, 
probably over that old city restored. If you will read 
the last eight chapters in the Book of Ezekiel, you will 
see a description of the future kingdom in Emmanuel's 
land. It is a portion not often read. Some think the 
description there refers to things past, but it will not fit 
anything that has ever been in the world. I believe the 
last eight chapters of Ezekiel are a description of the 
land and the temple as it is to be; and you will see 
there that the land is to be divided as it never yet has 
been, divided in a different fashion. Chapters 47 and 
48 will tell you the model. So also, when the city will 
be rebuilt the name of Jerusalem shall be Jehovah 
Shammah, "the Lord is there," and thus ends the Book 
of Ezekiel. 

It is a very interesting study to notice the ends of 
the Books of the Bible. If you take the ends of the 
Books of the Prophets, you will see in all but two, 
Jonah and Nahum, I think, each ends with a reference 
to the restoration of Israel and to the coming King- 
dom. Those who believe the Bible confidently expect 
the restoration of Israel to the land of Abraham and 
Isaac and Jacob, and that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and 
will be the capital of the whole earth. Before that time 
there will be a great change in the earth's surface, — a 
21 



322 



STUDIES IN THE 



great earthquake. Rev. 16: 17. Among the things that 
are ahead of us are earthquakes such as have never 
been on the earth. That is the record of the last vial 
of God's wrath that shall be poured out ere the Lord 
shall come in His glory. The changes that shall take 
place on the surface of the earth are described at least 
in reference to Palestine, for Jerusalem shall be greatly 
exalted and the country around it shall be a plain ; and 
from the temple in Jerusalem shall be a river running 
down eastward toward the Dead Sea, making that a 
dead sea no more and a river running westward to the 
Mediterranean (Zech. 14 and Ezekiel last eight chap- 
ters) and upon the banks of the river, trees bearing 
fruit for food and leaves for healing the nations, — 
these among other things you will read of in Ezekiel 
that make you wonder what is the difference between 
that kingdom and this in Revelation 22. So you see it 
is not easy to distinguish always between the Jerusalem 
on the earth, and the heavenly Jerusalem which is to 
be our home. But in Revelation 22 you read of a river 
in the new Jerusalem. Is that the same as the one we 
read of in Ezekiel as flowing through the Jerusalem on 
earth ? It does not look like it. It looks like a river in 
the new Jerusalem. We will have room for a river in 
that city, as it will be 1,500 miles long. Whatever it 
may be as to the literal, let us not fail to get the spirit- 
ual out of it. Some people always take things as 
spiritual and leave out the literal. Some take the literal 
and leave out the spiritual. I believe the safe plan is 
to take it as you find it— the description of actual things 
to be actually fulfilled, and then looking at the literal, 
fail not to get the spiritual. 

Now for a helpful word for my soul. Unless I take 
something out of this Bible for my soul, I read it in 



BOOK OF REVELATION 323 



vain. We go back to the garden in Eden. There you 
see a river flowing through it to water the garden, 
which is divided into four rivers. How suggestive of 
the Lord, the water of Hf e, and of whom we have four 
accounts in the Gospels. Are not the four rivers very 
suggestive ? But what right have we to think of Christ 
as a river? In Jer. 2: 13, God says, concerning His 
people Israel, ''My people have committed two evils; 
they have forsaken me the fountain of living w^aters, 
and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can 
hold no water." God tells us that He is the fountain 
of living waters. In John the fourth chapter, we read 
that our Lord said to the woman of Samaria, ''Whoso- 
ever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall 
never thirst ; but the w^ater that I shall give him shall 
be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting 
life." And in the seventh chapter of John's Gospel, 
Christ said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me 
and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture 
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water." So, my friends, you and I may be rivers of 
water. In Ezekiel we read, "Everything shall live 
whither the river goeth." Wherever you go in the 
name of Jesus Christ you will bring life. Are you 
bringing life? Are you filled with that water? Are 
you laying it up, day by day, memorizing it ? 

I was talking to a gentleman this afternoon, who 
says he is sorry he did not begin to memorize whole 
portions of Scripture long ago. I am sorry I wasted 
so much time of my life. If I am thankful to-day as 
a Christian, it is because I have some of this Book 
stored in my memory. I will give my time to laying 
up this word in my heart. Won't you do the same? 
You can fill yourselves you know. It is here. Drink, 



3^4 



STUDIES IN THE 



beloved, all you can of it, of this blessed water. Are 
you thirsty, are you hungry for God's word ? ''There 
is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city 
of Godr 

The river of God is always full of water. 
"A river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceed- 
ing out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.'' The 
Lord Jesus Christ will reign during the thousand years 
until He hath subdued all things unto Himself. But 
then shall He cease to reign? No. Here in the new 
earth Christ is on the throne with God. In the thou- 
sand years we shall reign with Christ. Shall we cease 
to reign in the new Jerusalem? No. Verse 5, last 
clause, ''and they shall reign for ever and ever." 

Verse 2 : "In the midst of the street of it, and on 
either side of the river, was there the tree of life, 
which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her 
fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were for 
the healing of the nations." There is a profitable study 
there for you. That brings up a separate study. We 
cannot dwell upon it now, but take your Concordance 
and look up the tree of life from Genesis on to Reve- 
lation, the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, in the 
Book of Proverbs and in the Revelation story. A lit- 
eral tree, think you? I don't question it at all. In 
Ezekiel a literal tree? In Eden a literal tree? Yes, a 
literal tree. We will see the use of it by and by. 
Spiritually, Christ is the tree of life. The words of the 
wise are a tree of life. Each one of us is a tree of life 
or a tree of death. Day by day we are in our daily lives 
either bringing life to others, or we are bringing death 
to others. If those who know we profess to be Chris- 
tians see in us day by day that which is of the friend- 



BOOK OF REVELATION 325 



ship of the world, we are to them a tree of death, 
stumbling blocks. But if they see something of Christ, 
joy and peace of Christ, we are trees of life. Let us 
be so filled with His spirit that we may be trees of life, 
the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. In 
Isaiah 61 we are trees of life. 

"And there shall be no more curse : but the throne 
of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants 
shall serve him." 

"And there shall be no more curse." What a long 
story it has been. Six thousand years of the curse. 
Another thousand years to run on the curse ; but at the 
end of that thousand no more curse, but the throne of 
God and the Lamb, and his servants shall serve Him. 
It is no real rest to do nothing; but it is real rest to 
be at work restf ully. I am sure we can all be at work 
restfully. A change of occupation is rest. You are 
not to be idle throughout eternity. Christ is ever work- 
ing now, He never ceases to worlc The Spirit is ever 
working. A good thought about the Spirit: (in Ro- 
mans 8) "The Spirit maketh intercession for us with 
groanings which cannot be uttered." You as a believer 
have a Friend in you who knows your need, loving 
you, patiently dwelling in you. How often the Spirit 
in you prays for you ! There is no doubt that you get 
many a blessing, many a deliverance you never asked 
for. The Spirit asks for it for you. Blessed Holy 
Spirit making intercession for us with groanings that 
cannot be uttered. O how He loves us ! He wants our 
greatest happiness here. How He wants Christ to be 
glorified, and how often He asks the Father to do this 
and that, we cannot tell. O what a Comforter ! Let us 
do as He directeth us, pray the prayer He has prayed. 
We expect to go on in glory reigning and serving. 



326 STUDIES IN THE 



There is no conflict at all in reigning and serving. 
Every minister is a servant, and a public official is sim- 
ply serving the people. We who are Christians will 
work, work, work, never get tired, never grow weary, 
never grow old, but serve Him continually. 

'^And they shall see His face." '^Blessed are the 
pure in heart for they shall see God." We can see Him 
here in faith. *'And his name shall be in their fore- 
heads." What would we do, what would we refrain 
from doing if we actually carried the name of Jesus 
written in letters of light or gold on our foreheads. 
You would not dare to do many a thing that Christians 
often do. We would not dare go to many a place, be- 
cause that name would put you out. They would not 
put up with it. They would say, ''Go away from our 
company, we don't want you." O that we might have 
the name of Jesus in letters of gold on our foreheads. 
We are here to bear that name. Let us bear it. 

^^And there shall be no night there." People are try- 
ing to make it so here by electric light. The great in- 
ventor is getting a new lamp that will go ahead of all 
the lamps. But that is man's work. God will give us 
the light of day. 

''And he said unto me these sayings are faithful and 
true." For the third time in this last section of the 
Book, we have the statement "These words are faith- 
ful and true." Rev. 19:9; Rev. 21 : 5. Why does God 
say three times these statements are true ? Let us lay 
to heart the fact that these statements are true,— not 
our explanations of them. We don't say they are true. 
Be careful of men's explanations. But the words, the 
very words of the book, we say these words are true. 
'Xet God be true and every man a liar." 

'^And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



angel to shew unto his servants the things which must 
shortly be done." Putting that verse with the six- 
teenth : ''I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto 
you these things in the churches" proves that the ''Lord 
God of the holy prophets" is none other than the Lord 
Jesus Christ. I learned at school this axiom : "Things 
which are equal to the same thing, are equal to each 
other." I find it helpful in Bible study. In Ephesians 
5 it says we are to "be filled with the Spirit ; speaking 
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." 
In the third of Colossians, sixteenth verse, "Let the 
word dwell in you richly." There you have two per- 
fectly evident cases, producing the same result, — con- 
sequently I conclude that being filled with the Spirit 
and filled with the word of God is the same thing. If 
you would be filled with the Spirit, be filled with the 
word of God. 

Now here. "I Jesus have sent mine angel." The 
Lord of the holy prophets is none other than Jesus 
Christ. In the Old Testament, it is "Thus saith the 
Lord." In the New Testament, "I say unto you." The 
Lord of the holy prophets is none other than Jesus of 
Nazareth, the Son of Mary, the only one worth talking 
about, the only one worth exalting. May we be so 
completely in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, that we 
will have no eyes or ears for anyone else. We see peo- 
ple on the earth who are all in all to each other, and 
when they are together they have eyes and ears for no 
one else. If that is possible in human relations, how- 
much more will it be with Christ, if we say from the 
heart, "O Christ, my Saviour, take me, all there is of 
me and use me all Thou canst." 

"Behold, I come quickly." We will pass on from that 



328 STUDIES IN THE 



for the present. ''Blessed is he that keepeth the say- 
ings of the prophecy of this book/' The Book begins 
and ends with the same statement. Verse 3, chapter i, 
''blessed isl he that readeth, and they that hear the 
words of this prophecy, and keep those things which 
are written therein." Now you can't keep what you 
have not got. You can't keep what is not your own. 
Therefore make these words your own. Lay them up 
in your heart, and then you can keep them and get your 
blessing. 

''And I John saw these things, and heard them. And 
when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship 
before the feet of the angel which shewed me these 
things." These expressions are very like John, — 
"when I had heard and seen." In John's first Epistle 
we read, "That which was from the beginning, which 
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes." In 
Acts 4 : 20 Peter and John said, "We cannot but speak 
the things which we have seen and heard." In Acts 
22: 15 Ananias said to Paul, "Thou shalt be his wit- 
ness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard." 
What have you heard? What have you seen? What- 
ever you have heard and seen from the Book of God, 
make it known. Because whatever you have seen in 
Scripture you can help make it known. Peter and John 
could not help but make it known. 

"Then saith he unto me. See thou do it not : for I 
am thy f ellowservant, and of thy brethren the proph- 
ets, "and of them which keep the sayings of this book : 
worship God." There is no one but the devil and those 
inspired by the devil who want to be worshipped. That 
is a token of the Antichrist. That is a mark of the 
beast. If we desire from our fellows worship, if we 
desire to be exalted, that is the spirit of the beast. A 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



good name is all right. A good name is more than great 
riches, and whatever of good name you may have, hold 
it for Christ. The devil said to Christ, *'Fall down and 
worship me." This messenger said to John, *'See thou 
do it not/' Do you think this is one of the prophets? 
We will ask John when we see him, "John, which of 
the prophets was it ?" and John will probably take us 
and introduce us to him. He is called an angel. That 
does not matter. An angel generally means one who is 
created an angel. The word angel, means mjcssenger, 
and angels were generally used as messengers. This 
was a messenger of God, not necessarily a created 
angel. He says, "I am one of the prophets." But no- 
tice this. Up there in heaven they keep the Book, for 
he says, am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren 
the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of 
this book." I do know that I shall remember up there 
in heaven or in the new Jerusalem all that I have ever 
learned from the Book, which '*is forever settled in 
heaven." Whatever you may have time for, I have not 
time to study other studies. If you have, do find time to 
make the Bible the greatest study, for the other studies 
will pass away, but the word of God endureth forever. 
There is not a sentence in this Book that you will not 
enjoy over there. 

"And he saith unto me. Seal not the sayings of the 
prophecy of this book." Now what do you think of 
people who will not read this Book of Revelation! 
Any man who goes against the prophecies of this book, 
is going against the very word of God. 

A gentleman told me he called a friend's attention to 
the third verse of the first chapter of Revelation. He 
told him he had never seen that before, and thanked 
him for calling his attention to it. This is the only book 



330 



STUDIES IN THE 



in all the sixty-six that has a special blessing attached 
to the reading of it. 

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : and he 
which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that is 
righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is 
holy, let him be holy still." There are two lines of 
thought here. Whatever the result of the Scriptures 
may be, that is not your affair, not your business. If 
the preaching of the word of God makes some people 
more unholy, that is not your business. If it makes 
them mad, that is not your business. If it makes them 
righteous, that is His affair also. God is responsible 
for results of His own word. The other thought is : 
when we have passed out of this Hfe, he who is unjust, 
will be unjust for ever; he who is filthy, will be filthy 
forever, etc. Take which ever you like. Take both 
thoughts, if you will. 

^'Behold, I come quickly." Here is the second time 
we read that. "And my reward is with me, to give 
every man according as his work shall be." Have I 
made it plain enough to you, friends? To me it is very 
clear that our salvation depends wholly upon the work 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have met a good many 
people this past week who thought they would like a 
little time, if a cyclone should come along, before they 
should be taken away by it. Now if we are Christians, 
we are supposed to be ready to meet the Lord at any 
time. But it is a common failing to mix up our daily 
life with the matter of salvation and think that we are 
not ready. My readiness to meet Christ does not de- 
pend on what I ever did. My fitness depends only on 
His merits. 

More than that I cannot have: 
More than that I do not need : 
Less than that will not avail. 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



Jesus Christ by His work has provided a robe of right- 
eousness, fitness for heaven, for everyone who will ac- 
cept Him. 

Let me ask you a simple question. Could you look 
in the face of Christ and say, ''Blessed Lord Jesus, as 
a sinner I accept Thee as my Saviour/' If you can 
truthfully say that to Him, you can never be more 
saved than you are in Christ. Salvation is wholly of 
grace. 

"And my reward is with me, to give every man ac- 
cording as his work shall be." Where do our w^orks 
come in ? There is not a cup of cold water ever given 
in the name of Christ that will not receive its reward. 
What, is there something beyond salvation ? Yes. Sal- 
vation is God's gift, free, undeserved. It is the gift of 
God. But as a penitent sinner, as a saved sinner you go 
forth to work for Christ, and everything you do for 
Christ you will be rewarded for according to your 
works. In i Cor. 3: ii to 15 you will see the whole 
story. It is possible to be saved, and not receive any 
precious rewards. May we have a full reward. 2 
Peter i will teach you how to have a full reward. 

''I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, 
the first and the last." Every question is answered in 
Christ. There is no light apart from Christ. Let Him 
be in your life. ''I am Alpha and Omega, the begin- 
ning and the end, the first and the last." 

''Blessed are they that do his commandments." Re- 
vised Version : "Blessed are they that wash their 
robes." Receive Christ, and then you have washed 
your robes. 

"That they may have right to the tree of life, and 
may enter in through the gates into the city." It is by 
the blood of the Lamb we obtain a right to enter the 



332 



STUDIES IN THE 



city. "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whore- 
mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever 
loveth and maketh a lie." You don't want to be with- 
out, do you? If you are not in Christ (Christ is loving 
you, you have only to call upon the Lord) receive Him 
and be saved. 

"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you 
these things in the churches." O friends, wake up and 
testify these things in the churches. Don't let them 
shut you up. Testify in your prayer meetings. Do it 
meekly and lovingly. Jesus gave you this to testify. 
Don't keep it to yourselves. 

''1 am the root and the offspring of David, and the 
bright and morning star." David's Lord, the ofifspring 
of David, David's son. In Revelation 2 the reward to 
the overcomer will be, "I will give him the morning 
star." When Christ comes in His glory, He is coming 
as the Sun of righteousness— (Malachi, last chapter) ; 
but the morning star shall come first. If we are 
Christ's we shall be caught up to meet Him as the 
Morning Star. 

''And the Spirit and the bride say. Come. And let 
him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst 
come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of 
life freely." ''The Spirit and the bride say, Come." 
That may be an invitation to the sinner, or it may be an 
invitation to Christ. Let your heart say, O come, Lord 
Jesus." 

"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life free- 
ly." I once knew a colored man named Gabriel. He 
was doing his best to be saved. I read that verse to 
him. And I asked him, "Does it say, whosoever will 
pray?" He said, "No, sir." "Does it say, whosoever 
will pay $5-00?" "No, sir. It says freely, sir?" "Do 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



you want to be saved?'' ''I do.'' "Will you take it?" 
''1 will, sir." And the best way he knew how, the sim- 
ple-minded fellow received Christ. Later I saw him, 
and crossed over the street and said to him, ''How is it, 
Gabriel, all right?" He said, ^'Whosoever will, I have 
it, sir." And you would think he had by the shine in 
his face. We cannot get it by praying or trying or 
doing. It is whosoever will. Are you willing to ac- 
cept Christ? 

"If any man shall add unto these things, God shall 
add unto him the plagues that are written in this book : 
and if any man shall take away from the words of the 
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part 
out of the book of life" mark this friends,— margin 
says, "out of the tree of life." No name is ever blotted 
out of the book of life, but he will lose some privilege 
in connection with the tree of life. What will we do 
about this? Deut. 4:2; Deut. 12:32; Proverbs 30: 
6 ; Jer. 26 : 2. And you will see the same thing in the 
Bible from beginning to end. Don't dare to add to it. 
Don't dare to take from it. 

"He which testifieth these things, saith. Surely, I 
come quickly." Here for the third time in this chapter, 
we have the words, "I come quickly." "Amen. Even 
so, come. Lord Jesus." Has your heart been crying 
out in these words? If not, let us begin to-day and all 
the rest of your life keep saying, "Amen. Even so, 
come. Lord Jesus." The Revised Version is, "Yea; I 
come quickly." We cry out, "Amen. So be it, come 
Lord Jesus." Now, friends, does your heart cry, 
"Come, Lord Jesus"? We are not asking for death, 
because if He comes, we will never die. God's word 
says that though the nations may plan and contrive, 
they imagine a vain thing, and "He that sitteth in the 



334 



STUDIES IN THE 



heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in 
derision." There is no remedy for earth's sorrows ex- 
cept the coming of the Lord Jesus, and the Book ends 
with that cry, and therefore we should keep crying it. 
Christ says, ^'Occupy till I come." This He says to us 
at every communion service. 

And what is the very last word : the best we can pos- 
sibly have, the one we know most of — the grace of 
God. Just three thoughts: We are saved by grace, 
Eph. 2:8; we stand in grace— Romans 5:2; more 
grace to come when Jesus comes, i Peter 1:13. 

I met a lady who said she was trying to keep up her 
fellowship with God, and she thought if she did not do 
so much, she would not be in His favor. What a pity 
to think that. He loves me and I do not deserve it. If 
I ever think I deserve anything from God, I have fallen 
from grace. Falling from grace does not mean getting 
lost, it means abusing the grace of God. Whenever 
you think you have done this or that for God and doubt 
the sufficiency of Christ's finished work for your sal- 
vation, you have fallen from grace, and you had better 
get back as fast as you can. 

And now, what is the very last word? ''Amen." 
What is that? ''The whole thing is true. The last 
word in the Book says, 'The whole thing is true.' It 
is established." That is the meaning of the word. 
Amen : true, established, so let it be. Let us believe in 
God, Amen. And let us be witnesses unto Him, until 
we see Him face to face. 

Prayer : 

O God our Father, Thou who art the true God, 
blessed Lord Jesus Christ, Thou who art the Amen, 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



the faithful and true witness, Thou who art adored by 
all the multitudes of heaven at this moment, Thou who 
shalt yet be worshipped by all on earth, may we, each 
individually, be so carried away by Thee, Thou lovely 
One, that we may have eyes and ears for no one else, 
except to see Thee in them, to know Thee better. We 
ask Thee, Heavenly Father, for Christ's sake, to for- 
give what has been ours. Somehow, glorify Thy name. 
May the Holy Spirit take control of each one of us, 
that we may glorify God, and live in the grace of God, 
and that we may remember that Thou lovest us, al- 
though we are unworthy. And what Thou shalt do 
with us in the coming days — we may be called out to 
meet Thee,— if so, may it be an abundant entrance, 
through His merits alone made fit for Thy presence, or 
Thou mayest come, or it may be Thou shalt tarry and 
we shall go on again with our studies — whatever it may 
be, may our hearts be singing this song: 'Thou art 
worthy O Lord, and I am for Thy pleasure,"— each in 
the Lord's hands for the Lord's pleasure, until we see 
Thee face to face. 



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